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Environmental Systems Modelling

Head

Prof. Dr. Andreas Focks

Research Profile

The Environmental Systems Modeling FG is concerned with the analysis and simulation of the fate and potential effects of chemicals and other stressors in environmental systems. A broad portfolio of methods is used, ranging from differential equation-based exposure models, to toxicokinetic-toxicodynamic (TKTD) models describing the uptake and effects of chemicals at the organism level, to equation- and individual-based simulation (IBM) models at the population level. Spatially-explicit landscape-scale simulation models are also used. A special focus is on method development for prospective and retrospective risk assessment.

In the FZ IUSF, there are a number of connecting factors, for example in the field of sustainable agricultural production. The expertise and methods could be used, for example, in the transformation from intensive to near-natural agricultural production, where options for plant protection could be analyzed and prioritized with regard to environmental impacts.

Running Projects

• PARC - Partnership for the assessment of risks from chemicals (EU, 2023-2025)
• AENEAS -Advancing the environmental risk assessment of non-target arthropods for plant protection products by accounting for the impact on ecosystem services and on the ecological function (European Food Safety Authority, EFSA, 2023-2026)
• AMPHIDEB: Development of biologically-based models in environmental risk assessment to assess the impact of chemicals and pathogenic fungi on amphibian and reptile populations (European Food Safety Authority, EFSA, 2023-2026)
• Joint Lab Künstliche Intelligenz and Data Science (Graduate school, VolkswagenStiftung, 2023-2028)
• SYBERAC - Towards a systems-based, holistic environmental risk assessment of chemicals (EU, 2024-2027)
• PollinERA - Understanding pesticide-Pollinator interactions to support EU Environmental Risk Assessment and policy (EU, 2024-2027)