Schunko, Christoph

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