Big news for the whole EORC family: Prof. Stefan Dech has received the Bavarian State Medal for Services to the Environment, one of the state’s official honors for environmental achievement.
In the laudatio, the Bavarian State Ministry for the Environment and Consumer Protection singled out something we all know about Stefan. His work doesn’t stop at collecting data. He wants research results to be understood, and he wants them to be used. Earth observation, in his hands, became a real tool for analyzing the environment and planning sustainably, in Bavaria, across Germany and internationally.
The ministry also pointed to how he built up the Chair of Remote Sensing in Würzburg into an internationally leading research center, with the long-standing partnership with the German Aerospace Center (DLR) as a key ingredient. And it recognized his interest for making science visible. Books and exhibitions like the one at the Gasometer have reached millions of people and gotten a lot of them thinking about global change.
Then there’s the practical side. Stefan has developed earth observation solutions for Bavarian authorities, helping them adapt to climate change. He developed the EO4CAM project on Earth Observation for Climate Adaptation and Environment, which would make this kind of knowledge available across all of Germany. And the ministry didn’t forget how much he does for the next generation of researchers like our EAGLE M.Sc. program and for the structures that keep science running.
It was a great event also with some “celebrities” like Reinhold Messner or Annika Preil from the TV show “Anna und die wilden Tiere”.
Congratulations, Stefan! Thoroughly deserved!
read the full laudatio:
https://www.stmuv.bayern.de/ministerium/auszeichnungen/verdienst_umwelt/detailansicht.htm?tid=22828
pictures taken by Martin Wegmann and Stefan Dech
