Schunko, Christoph

Research interest

My research lies at the interface between organic farming, agroecology and Indigenous and local communities’ knowledge systems. In particular, I adopt biocultural and social-ecological systems perspectives to examine local agricultural knowledge and its contributions to innovating organic farming and fostering food systems transformations. Thereby, I am particularly interested in revealing farmers’ local solutions to climate change adaptation and agrobiodiversity conservation, with a particular emphasis on wild flora and wild plant collection. My research has contributed to enhance understanding and valuation of local knowledge systems, and highlighting farmers' and local communities’ manifold relations of reciprocity and stewardship with their environment. I am versatile in adopting social science and interdisciplinary research approaches, covering qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods, local to global scales, European and non-European field sites, and rural and urban areas. 

Short Curriculum Vitae

• 2023-ongoing Assoc. Prof. at IBIO / BOKU
• 2023-2023 Habilitation in Ethnobotany at BOKU
• 2021-2022 Research stay 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

• Organic wild collection in Austria at the nexus between production, nature conservation and tourism - BWÖ

Completed (selection)

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

Recent publications

Mattalia, G, McAlvay, A, Reyes-García, V, Asfaw, Z, Ban, N, Caviedes, J, De Meyer, E, Díaz, S, Franco, F, Ibarra, J, Loayza, G, Loring, P, Lukawiecki, J, Montúfar, R, Moola, F, Ojeda, J, Schunko, C, Uprety, Y, Wall, J, Zafra-Calvo, N, Teixidor-Toneu, I (2026): Stewardship practices enhance nature’s contributions to People. BioScience, biag047, https://doi.org/10.1093/biosci/biag047

Vaccaro, I., Schunko, C. (2026): Commoning of open access resources through urban foraging stewardship. Current opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 81:101651. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cosust.2026.101651

Cruz-Gispert, A., D. García-del-Amo, A.B. Junqueira, C. Schunko, S. Àlvarez-Fernández, V. Reyes-García (2026). Indigenous Peoples and local community reports of climate change impacts on biodiversity. Conservation Biology, e70033. https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.70033.

Schunko, C., B. Stagg, B. Dünser (2025). Harnessing synergies between botany education research and ethnobotany to improve understanding of plant awareness. Plants People Planet, 1-7, https://doi.org/10.1002/ppp3.70031.

Teixidor-Toneu, I, Mattalia, G, Caillon, S, Abdullah, A, Fiser, Z, Karlsen, P, Khan, SM, Kool, A, Loayza, G, Porcuna-Ferrer, A, Vaccaro, I, Schunko, C (2025): Stewardship underpins sustainable foraging. Trends in Ecology & Evolution. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2025.01.004.

Brandner, A, Taczanowska, K, Zoderer, BM, Schunko, C (2025): Mapping wild food foraging locations reveals urban green space preferences and avenues for edible city solutions. Urban Forestry & Urban Greening, 104, 128602. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ufug.2024.128602.