Christoph Schunko, Assoc.Prof. Dipl.-Ing. Dr.

Christoph Schunko, Assoc.Prof. Dipl.-Ing. Dr.

Working Group Knowledge Systems and Innovation

Institute of Organic Farming
Department of Sustainable Agricultural Systems
University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna
Gregor-Mendel-Strasse 33, 1180 Vienna

Phone: (+43)1/47654-93348
E-Mail: christoph.schunko(at)boku.ac.at

Publications
Projects
Presentations
Courses
Supervised Master theses/Dissertations
In the media

ResearchGate
Google scholar
ORCID

Research interest

My research focuses on local knowledge about wild plant gathering in organic farming and beyond. This includes research about the

  1. biocultural diversity of wild plant uses;
  2. value chains of (organic) wild plant products;
  3. ecological and socio-political sustainability of (organic) wild plant gathering;
  4. cultivation and domestication of wild plants.

I am thereby interested in European and non-European territories, rural, suburban and urban regions and commercial and non-commercial wild plant gathering. In addition, I work on the advancement of research designs and methods including participatory research and Citizen Science.

Short Curriculum Vitae

  • 2023-ongoing Assoc. Prof. at IFÖL / BOKU
  • 2021-2022 Visiting scholar at ICTA, Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB), Spain
  • 2017-2023 Tenure track position at IFÖL / BOKU
  • 2014-2017 University assistant at IFÖL / BOKU
  • 2012-2016 Dissertation at BOKU
  • 2012-2015 Synthesis officer and project manager in EU FP7 funded COMBIOSERVE project at IFÖL / BOKU
  • 2009-2011 Project assistant at IFÖL / BOKU
  • 2006-2009 Master Studies in Organic Agriculture at BOKU and Iowa State University (ISU), USA
  • 2003-2006 Bachelor studies in Agricultural Sciences at BOKU and Ecole d’Ingénieurs de Purpan (EIP), France

Research Projects

Ongoing

  • Local Indicators of Climate Change Impacts: The Contribution of Local Knowledge to Climate Change Research – LICCI

Completed

  • Gathering wild foods in urban areas – mixed-methods study on ecological and socio-political sustainability of gathering in Vienna – UrbanWildFoods
  • Gathering of wild plant species in organic farming – OrganicWildGathering
  • Assessing the effectiveness of community-based management strategies for biocultural diversity conservation – COMBIOSERVE
  • Monitoring of Biocultural Diversity im Biospärenpark Großes Walsertal – BioCultural Diversity Monitoring
  • Dynamics of Local Knowledge – Tyrol

Recent publications

Molnár, Z., Fernández-Llamazares, Á., Schunko, C., Teixidor-Toneu, I., Jarić, I., Díaz-Reviriego, I., Ivascu, C., Babai, D., Sáfián, L., Karlsen, P., Dai, H., & Hill, R. (2023). Social justice for traditional knowledge holders will help conserve Europe’s nature. Biological Conservation, 285, 110190. doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2023.110190

Brandner, A., & Schunko, C. (2022). Urban wild food foraging locations: Understanding selection criteria to inform green space planning and management. Urban Forestry & Urban Greening, 73, 127596. doi.org/10.1016/j.ufug.2022.127596

Daum, T., Vehre, A., Schweizerhof, C., & Schunko, C. (2022). Edible weeds and food and nutrition security in the face of the herbicide revolution. A case study from Zambia. International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability, 20(6), 1166–1180. doi.org/10.1080/14735903.2022.2065949

Hollaus, A., Schunko, C., Weisshaidinger, R., Bala, P., & Vogl, C. R. (2022). Indigenous farmers’ perceptions of problems in the rice field agroecosystems in the upper Baram, Malaysia. Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine, 18(1), 26. doi.org/10.1186/s13002-022-00511-1

Hollaus, A., Schunko, C., Weisshaidinger, R., Bala, P., & Vogl, C. R. (2022). Nature’s contributions to people in the context of a changing traditional rice cultivation landscape in the Upper Baram, Malaysia. Geografisk Tidsskrift-Danish Journal of Geography, 122(2), 129–140. doi.org/10.1080/00167223.2022.2162944

Schunko, C., & Brandner, A. (2022). Urban nature at the fingertips: Investigating wild food foraging to enable nature interactions of urban dwellers. Ambio, 51(5), 1168–1178. doi.org/10.1007/s13280-021-01648-1

Schunko, C., Li, X., Klappoth, B., Lesi, F., Porcher, V., Porcuna Ferrer, A., & Reyes-García, V. (2022). Local communities’ perceptions of wild edible plant and mushroom change: A systematic review. Global Food Security, 32, 100601. doi.org/10.1016/j.gfs.2021.100601