I am a restoration ecologist focusing on plant and soil dynamics of moving soils as a method for habitat restoration. I did my MSc in Natural Resources Management in biology at NTNU, which was funded by the interdiciplinary research project GreenMove (2022-2026). The thesis was supervised by Bente J. Graae and Martijn L. Vandegehuchte. In short, I analysed the vegetation and topsoil response to topsoil translocation from a road construction site into the urban landscape of Høgskoleparken at NTNU. Not only did the project increase the biodiversity in the park, but also salvaged the plant species from infrastructure development. Now I am lucky to continue as a PhD within the same project, with one leg at the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and the other leg at my former Department of Biology.
With four other PhD's in the Green Move-project, we work together to unravel the impacts, oppotunities and effects of moving agricultural soil in important infrastructure projects. My aim is to contribute with an holistic view of both climate and biodiversity impacts of relocating and moving soil, focusing in both agricultural soil and natural habitats. Along with my main supervisor Rolf André Bohne and in co-supervision from SINTEF by Hrefna R. Vigdisdottir and Katrin Knoth, I will analyse the step-by-step impact of soil relocation using life cycle analysis (LCA). The overall goal is to find more sustainable ways to manage soil in infrastructure projects for humans and nature, as the last resort effort to minimize human impact on the scarce agricultural soil and fragmented and degraded nature.
Honors/awards:
Best Master thesis in sustainable development at the Faculty of Natural Sciences, 2023