Ulrike Sturm (she/her)

Science Officer

Ulrike.Sturm@mfn.berlin+49 30 889 140 - 8384
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Department:
Public Science

I lead the working group “Human-Nature Relations in the Anthropocene”. My research is located at the interface of participatory approaches such as citizen science, the development of digital tools and the conceptual reflection of digital practice in the context of human-nature relationships.

I am part of the research areas and working groups:
Human-nature relationships in the Anthropocene

Project(s)

Vita

I completed my bachelor's degree in biology and German to become a teacher in Bremen. I then spent a year at Lund University, where I studied animal ecology and conservation. Building on this, I completed my master's degree in urban ecology at the Technical University of Berlin. During my work at the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin, I was responsible for numerous research and development projects. Since 2016, a central focus has been the management of the Naturblick team. Completed projects include Europeana Creative (2013-2014) on the creative use of digital collections, Nature of Things - A Participatory Collection of the Anthropocene (2020-2023), Research for Wild Bees: Creating Community Gardens Together (2020-2024) and DMP4CS (2022-2024) on the development of data management plans for citizen science projects. This work combined research, digital tools and social participation.

Further information

I am active in several networks that promote the exchange and further development of citizen science, transdisciplinary research and science communication. These include: - mitforschen.org, the central platform for citizen science in Germany and connects actors from science and civil society. - European Citizen Science Association (ECSA), a Europe-wide network to promote and professionalize citizen science. - Society for Transdisciplinary and Participatory Research (GTPF), which brings together researchers who work at the interface between science and society. - #FactoryWisskomm, an open network for actors in science communication and serves as a space for exchange, cooperation and innovation. In addition, I am part of the Einstein Circle Urban Mental Health Strategy, an interdisciplinary Berlin network that deals with urban mental health at the interface of the city, environment and society.

Publications

Schmack, J.M., Egerer, M., Karlebowski, S., Neumann, A.E., Sturm, U. (2024). Overlooked and misunderstood: how urban community gardeners perceive social wasps and their ecosystem functions. Journal of Insect Conservation, 28(2), 283-289. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10841-024-00548-5Open Access

Egerer, M., Sturm, U. (2024). Gemeinschaftsgärten als Orte der Biodiversität in der Stadt. In Baier, A., Müller, C., Werner, K. (Hrsg.), Unterwegs in die Stadt der Zukunft (267-276). transcript Verlag. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783839471630-016Open Access

Von Gönner, J., Herrmann, T.M., Bruckermann, T., Eichinger, M., Hecker, S., Klan, F., Lorke, J., Richter, A., Sturm, U., Voigt-Heucke, S., Brink, W., Liedtke, C., Premke-Kraus, M., Altmann, C., Bauhus, W., Bengtsson, L., Büermann, A., Dietrich, P., Dörler, D., Eich-Brod, R., Ferschinger, L., Freyberg, L., Grützner, A., Hammel, G., Heigl, F., Heyen, N.B., Hölker, F., Johannsen, C., Kluß, T., Kluttig, T., Knobloch, J., Munke, M., Mortega, K., Pathe, C., Soßdorf, A., Stämpfli, T., Thiel, C., Tönsmann, S., Valentin, A., Wagenknecht, K., Wegener, R., Woll, S., Bonn, A. (2023). Citizen science’s transformative impact on science, citizen empowerment and socio-political processes. Socio-Ecological Practice Research, 5(1), 11-33. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42532-022-00136-4Open Access

Karlebowski, S., Egerer, M., Neumann, A.E., Schmack, J.M., Sturm, U. (2024). Co-creation for change: engaging urban community gardeners in the development of insect conservation interventions. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/ap.e126596Open Access

Sturm, U. (2024, September 26). Die alltägliche Natur - Pflanzen und Tiere entdecken mit der Smartphone-App Naturblick. Politik & Kultur. Zeitung des Deutschen Kulturrates, S. 23. URL: https://www.kulturrat.de/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/puk10-24.pdfOpen Access

Sturm, U., Mortega, K.G., Jäckel, D., Darwin, S., Brockmeyer, U., Lasseck, M., Moczek, N., Lehmann, G.U.C., Voigt-Heucke, S.L. (2023). Community engagement and data quality: best practices and lessons learned from a citizen science project on birdsong. Journal of Ornithology, 164(1), 233-244. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10336-022-02018-8Open Access

Egerer, M., Karlebowski, S., Schoo, D., Sturm, U. (2024). Growing gardens into neighborhoods through transdisciplinary research. Urban Forestry & Urban Greening, 100, 128481. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ufug.2024.128481Open Access

Karlebowski, S., Egerer, M., Neumann, A.E., Schmack, J.M., Sturm, U. (2023). Citizen Science and Pollination Research: Lessons Learned from a Research Collaboration in Community Gardens in Berlin and Munich. Proceedings of Austrian Citizen Science Conference 2023 — PoS(ACSC2023), 442. DOI: https://doi.org/10.22323/1.442.0009Open Access

Bessert-Nettelbeck, M., Bischof, A., Sturm, U., Nagy, E., Schraudner, M., Backhaus, J., Bruckermann, T., Hecker, S., Henke, J., Köpferl, K., Kirschke, S., Liedtke, C., Mahr, F., Maibaum, A., Podann, A., Rössig, W., Schäfer, M., Schröder, C., Schrögel, P., Shennan, V., Steinhaus, N., Stewart, M., Van Den Bogaert, V., Voigt-Heucke, S. (2023). [Report]: Participation as a research approach in academia: a converging field. Research Ideas and Outcomes, 9, e105155. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/rio.9.e105155Open Access

Karlebowski, S., Sturm, U., Museum für Naturkunde Berlin, Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt (2024). Bürgerforschungsdaten planen [Digitales Werkzeug]. Webseite. URL: https://buergerforschungsdaten-planen.de/Open Access

Sturm, U., Tscholl, M. (Hrsg.). (2025). [Box] Großer Abendsegler. Berlin, Germany: Museum für Naturkunde (MfN) - Leibniz-Institut für Evolutions- und Biodiversitätsforschung. URL: https://www.museumfuernaturkunde.berlin/de/forschung/reihe-berliner-stadtnatur

Heyne, E., Weißpflug, M., Sturm, U. (2024). Participatory practices and transforming environmental research in the Anthropocene. Environmental Science & Policy, 153, 103655. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2023.103655Open Access

Karlebowski, S., Sturm, U., Egerer, M. (2023). Forschen für Wildbienen – Gemeinschaftsgärten gemeinsam gestalten. In Treffpunkt Biologische Vielfalt XXI: interdisziplinärer Forschungsaustausch im Rahmen des Übereinkommens über die biologische Vielfalt (62-68). Bonn: Deutschland / Bundesamt für Naturschutz. DOI: https://doi.org/10.19217/SKR661Open Access

Sexton, A., Conitz, F., Sturm, U., Egerer, M. (2025). Wild Plants Drive Biotic Differentiation Across Urban Gardens. Ecology and Evolution, 15(6). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.71527Open Access

Sexton, A.N., Conitz, F., Karlebowski, S., Neumann, A.E., Schmack, J.M., Sturm, U., Egerer, M. (2025). Urban pollinator communities are structured by local-scale garden features, not landscape context. Landscape Ecology, 40(3), 1-6. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-025-02062-8Open Access

Sturm, U., Khorramshahi, O. (2024). Naturblick: Erkenntnisse aus der Entwicklung einer App zur urbanen Naturerfahrung. In Davis, M., Peter, L.K. (Hrsg.), NaturschutzDigital 2023 – Innovative Digitalformate in der Naturschutzbildung: Dokumentation der Tagung „NaturschutzDigital“ vom 02.-05.05.2023 des Bundesamts für Naturschutz (BfN) an der Internationalen Naturschutzakademie (INA) auf der Insel Vilm (38-42). Bundesamt für Naturschutz. URL: https://doi.org/10.19217/skr677Open Access

Bruckermann, T., Henke, J., Schrögel, P., Sturm, U. (2025). Die Vielfalt der Partizipation in der Forschung: Begriffe, Methoden und Perspektiven [Preprint]. SocArXiv. DOI: https://doi.org/10.31235/osf.io/uyt7z_v1

Moormann, A., Sturm, U. (2025). Nature Experience through Citizen Science Projects. In Gebhard, U., Lude, A., Möller, A., Moormann, A. (Hrsg.), Nature Experience and Education (351–364). Wiesbaden: Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-47762-2_21Open Access

Egerer, M., Karlebowski, S., Conitz, F., Neumann, A.E., Schmack, J.M., Sturm, U. (2024). In defence of urban community gardens. People and Nature, 6(2), 367-376. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/pan3.10612Open Access

Bucher, K., Egerer, M., Engl, M., Haug, M., Karlebowski, S., Kronester, S., Schoo, D., Sturm, U. (2025). Gärtnern für mehr Biodiversität in der Stadt: Ein Katalog mit Anleitungen für biodiversitätsfördernde Maßnahmen. München: TUM.University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.14459/2025md1781539Open Access

Neumann, A.E., Conitz, F., Karlebowski, S., Sturm, U., Schmack, J.M., Egerer, M. (2024). Flower richness is key to pollinator abundance: The role of garden features in cities. Basic and Applied Ecology, 79, 102-113. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.baae.2024.06.004Open Access

Heyne, E., Sturm, U., Weißpflug, M., Witte, M., Sevcik, J., Tovote, J. (2024). Verlorene Objekte, wiederentdeckte Natur. Auf dem Weg zur Sammlung des Anthropozäns: Abschlussbericht.. Hannover : Technische Informationsbibliothek. DOI: https://doi.org/10.34657/20476Open Access

Karlebowski, S., Sturm, U. (2024). Datenmanagementpläne in Citizen-Science-Projekten – Begleitender Leitfaden zum Werkzeug Bürgerforschungsdaten-planen. (28) [Leitfaden]. Museum für Naturkunde Berlin - Leibniz Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity Science. DOI: https://doi.org/10.7479/4y0t-k239Open Access