Centre for Environmental History

picture river landscape

Welcome to the Centre for Environmental History!

Public presentations tenure-track “Environmental History with a Focus on Long-Term Socio-Ecological Research”


8:00– 08:05
VR Assoc.Prof. DI Dr. Doris DAMYANOVIC 
(Head of the selection committee)
Welcome and Introduction

08:05 – 08:35
Dr. Rolf Bauer
Making Disasters. Socio‑Ecological Perspectives on Drought and Famine in Nineteenth-Century India

08:35 – 09:05
Dr. John Brolin
From Organic Economies to the Anthropocene: An Earth-System Approach to Long-Term Socio-Ecological Transformation

09:05 – 09:35
Dr. Siegfried Evens
Disasters Fast and Slow: Integrating Socio-Ecological and Socio-Technical Perspectives

09:35 – 09:45
Break

09:45 – 10:15
Dr. Martin Meiske
Intersections: Environmental History in the Age of the Anthropocene

10:15 – 10:45 
Dr. Anna Varga
Towards our Common Pasturelands: Environmental Historical Research and Teaching Inspired by Nature Conservation

10:45 – 11:15 
Dr. Monica Vasile
Socio-Ecological Transformations and the Making of an Endangered Species - The Vancouver Island Marmot in an Industrial Forest Landscape

Time: 30.04.2026, 8:00 – 11:15
Online link: https://bokuvienna.zoom.us/j/68889490789

>Details


Invitation to the Environmental History Today Webinar:

Between the Industrialization and the Green Transformation: The Long Environmental History of Polish-Czech Coal in Cultural Perspective 

Presenters: 
Prof. dr hab. Marta Tomczok (University of Silesia)
Prof. dr hab. Jan Malura (University of Ostrava)
Dr. Jakub Ivanek (University of Ostrava)
Dr. hab. Paweł Tomczok (University of Silesia)

Abstract:
Speakers will discuss two Polish-Czech research projects devoted to the environmental history of coal: “Mapping the Culture of Europe’s Last Coal Basin” (NCN&GACR) and “Images and Histories of Black Towns” (GACR&NCN). These are large-scale team projects aimed at developing a network of connections between two centuries of hard coal mining and the coal industry, and culture. One project resulted in the first environmental map of its kind, the other is a literary and visual anthology.

They will discuss the environmental history of the Upper Silesian Coal Basin, the impact of industry and pollution on culture, particularly from the late nineteenth century until the fall of communism. They will also explore how decarbonization and energy transition impact culture, and whether the shift away from coal is reflected in Polish-Czech culture. Two sites that will receive special attention are industrial waste dumps and rivers

Zeit / Time: 30.04.2026, 10.00 - 12.00 pm (CET)
Ort /  Place: Zoom https://universiteitleiden.zoom.us/j/66317440653?pwd=ap2CUxzKbag2aIAaCg66jCPpNHnXEI.1

> Details

Simone Gingrich | Foto: Pilo Pichler


Umweltgeschichte im Fokus: Wie Simone Gingrich die Vergangenheit für eine nachhaltige Zukunft erforscht

Die historischen Entwicklungen von landwirtschaftlicher Intensivierung, Wiederbewaldung und der Expansion tierischer Produktion haben nicht nur die Ernährungsgrundlagen für wachsende Bevölkerungen geschaffen, sondern auch erhebliche ökologische Konsequenzen nach sich gezogen – von steigenden Treibhausgasemissionen bis hin zu Veränderungen in globalen Stoffkreisläufen.

Antrittsvorlesung
Umweltgeschichte im Anthropozän
Univ.Prof.in Dr.in Simone Gingrich

Montag, 24. März 2025, um 17:00 Uhr
BOKU University - Ilse-Wallentin-Haus - SR 29
Peter-Jordan-Straße 82, 1190 Wien
und im LIVESTREAM auf https://youtube.com/live/ais7V_yYNcQ?feature=share


Heritage Science an der BOKU

BOKU Forscherinnen und Forscher unterschiedlicher Disziplinen erforschen das Natur- und Kulturerbe Österreichs. Oft beschäftigen sie sich dabei mit Detailfragen. Doch erst durch interdisziplinäre Kooperationen können diese Erkenntnisse zu einem "großen Ganzen" zusammengefügt werden. Deshalb haben sich Mitarbeiterinnen und Mitarbeiter der BOKU vernetzt und sind dem österreichweiten Netzwerk Heritage Science Austria beigetreten. Im Rahmen des Heritage Science Café wurden ausgewählte Projekte von BOKU Forscher*innen präsentiert. Der Film folgt den Forschenden ins Archiv und Labor, bei Feldforschungen, auf Dachböden und ins Bergwerk und zeigt, wie der Mensch unsere Umwelt bearbeitet, gestaltet und verändert hat. Der Blick zurück hilft uns, Antworten auf Herausforderungen der Zukunft zu finden.

>zum Film


Now Online

Umwelthistorische Datenbank Österreich
Environmental History Database Austria (EHDA)

Materialien zur Umweltgeschichte Österreichs Nr. 8

In 2004, the then newly founded Centre for Environmental History (ZUG) started to systematically search and collect bibliographical data on environmental historical literature in Austria. Over the years, the data set has grown to the 3,751 entries tabulated in this volume. Until 2019, the collection then named "Environmental History Database Austria (EHDA)" was available for online searches in a custom-made environment. EHDA entries comprise works with publication dates from 1945 until 2019 and include hard-to-find grey literature and academic qualification works. Since EHDA went online about 15 years ago, digitalisation has markedly impacted scientific publishing and research. Powerful finding aids, mostly with access to full texts, full-text searches and linked searches have become available. While EHDA has been regularly updated, because committed colleagues have invested time and expertise, we have not been able to modernize the tool in terms of search possibilities and links. We have therefore taken EHDA off the Internet. This volume of the “Materialien” makes the entire content of EHDA available to all interested parties as a fully searchable pdf document with carefully preserved tags. The introduction includes search tips and explains the search possibilities we have tried to preserve or are able to now offer under the new possibilities of full-text indexing and other search engine possibilities.

>zum Materialienband (pdf, 4,35 MB)

Icon Bluesky


Follow us...