Advisory Board

Our advisory board consists of people from research and development and the agribusiness sector. The advisory board provides us strategic advice, aids in the orientation of future research work and supports us in the initiation of strategic cooperations and partnerships.

Volkmar Keuter

Head of Department Environment and Resources, Fraunhofer UMSICHT

Volkmar Keuter heads the Department of Environment and Resources at the Fraunhofer Institute for Environmental, Safety, and Energy Technologies UMSICHT in Germany. His work focusses on new materials, lighting, nutrient recovery, and cultivation processes for Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) systems, for instance to develop integrated food production systems for cities.

Andreas Kochs

Deputy Managing Director,
Euregio Rhein-Waal

Andreas Kochs is the Deputy Managing Director at Euregio Rhein-Waal, which aims at improving and intensifying cross-border cooperation between Germany and the Netherlands. Furthermore, he is responsible for program management for Interreg Deutschland-Nederland, a European funding instrument providing financial support for cooperation projects along European borders.

Ulrich Schurr

Professor and Head of Plant Sciences (IBG-2), Forschungszentrum Jülich

Ulrich Schurr is a plant physiologist and heads the Institute of Plant Sciences at Forschungszentrum Jülich, Germany. He coordinates the German Plant Phenotyping Network, is chairman of the ESFRI project EMPHASIS, and president of the International Plant Phenotyping. Schurr leads the Bioeconomy Science Center and initiated BioeconomieREVIER to establish a model region for sustainable bioeconomy in a coal-phase-out area in Germany.

Burkhard Sagemüller

Head of Development,
LEMKEN GmbH & Co. KG

Burkhard Sagemüller completed an apprenticeship as an agricultural machinery mechanic and later studied agricultural machinery technology at Cologne University. After working at the agricultural machinery manufacturer Claas for many years, he became Head of Development at Lemken in 2017. Due to his committee work, e.g. with VDMA, the Association of German Mechanical and Plant Engineering e.V., he has established extensive national and international networks.

Christiane Underberg

Entrepreneur, Underberg

Christiane Underberg is a German entrepreneur and from 1982 was for many years the managing director of Semper idem Underberg GmbH, the main company of the spirits manufacturer Underberg in Rheinberg. Today she is deputy chairwoman of the supervisory board of Semper idem Underberg AG, while also engaging in voluntary work in many fields supporting sustainable development.

Prof. Dr. Birka Wicke

Professor - Environmental Science, Radboud University

Prof. Dr. Birka Wicke is an environmental scientist focused on sustainable agriculture and the biobased economy, with particular attention to land use, land use change, and their roles in climate change mitigation. Recognizing the complexity of sustainability challenges, her research integrates both natural and social sciences—drawing on disciplines such as land change science, industrial ecology, agriculture, economics, and political science. Her work centers on three key areas: the environmental and socio-economic impacts of the biobased economy, emissions from agricultural land use and shared mitigation responsibility, and the role of carbon credits in voluntary climate action.

Dr. Maja Slingerland

Associate Professor - Plant Production Systems, Wageningen University

Maja Slingerland holds a PhD from Wageningen University in tropical animal production and mixed crop-livestock systems. She has extensive experience in teaching, research, and international development, including roles with SNV/FAO in Mali and as coordinator and director of Wageningen’s outreach station in Burkina Faso. Back in the Netherlands, she led interdisciplinary research on food security, natural resource management, and sustainable agriculture across Africa, Asia, and South America. Her work focuses on farming systems, smallholder livelihoods, and sustainable cocoa and oil palm production. She supervises students, teaches interdisciplinary courses, and contributes to academic and public debates.