In recent months, three of our PhD students successfully defended their respective PhD thesis. Wiebke Janke finished her doctorate in April, Ali Jalali in June and Xabier Díaz de Otálora Aguirre in July. Once again, we want to congratulate all three of them on their success.

Wiebke Janke defended her PhD thesis at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin on the topic "Monitoring Bioeconomic Transitions: Development of Indicators and Measuring Bioplastics in Germany, Using an Extended Hybrid IO-LCA Model". Through her research, Wiebke has made a significant contribution to advancing the development of economic indicators and bioeconomy monitoring systems.

At  ATB, Wiebke played a significant role in establishing the working group "Innovations in sociotechnical systems working group". Furthermore, she has also been a dedicated representative for PhD students in recent years.
Throughout her studies at ATB, Dr Philipp Grundmann, the head of the group “Innovations in Sociotechnical Systems”, supervised her.

We extend our warmest congratulations to Wiebke Janke and wish her all the best in her future endeavors and career pursuits.


Ali Jalali defended his PhD thesis at Technische Universität Berlin. His research, titled "Engineering Approach for Simulation and Optimized Design in Postharvest Supply Chain," represents a significant contribution to the field of postharvest supply chain management.

Ali played a significant role in advancing the field of modeling and simulation, with a specific focus on the packaging and storage of fresh produce.
Additionally, Ali has been actively engaged in the department of agromechatronics, collaborating closely with Prof. Cornelia Weltzien and Dr. Volker Dworak.

We sincerely congratulate Dr. Ali Jalali for his outstanding achievements and valuable contributions to our scientific community.


Xabier Díaz de Otálora Aguirre defended his PhD-thesis at the Universitat Politécnia de Valencia (Spain) under the guidance of Barbara Amon and Dr. Agustin del Prado from the Basque Center for Climate Change (Spain). His doctoral research  focused on the topic "Sustainability assessment of key European dairy cattle production systems: System identification, analysis, and greenhouse gas and nitrogen emission mitigation."

At  ATB, Xabier has made significant contributions in the fields of sustainability assessment, emission modeling, and mitigation strategies in dairy cattle production across Europe. His remarkable achievements include the identification of dairy production typologies in Europe, the proposal of mitigation measures targeted at key European regions, and the assessment of emissions across the whole manure management chain.

As a PhD candidate, Xabier demonstrated his commitment by publishing four research papers. Furthermore, he actively participated in numerous international projects aimed at enhancing the social, economic, and environmental sustainability of the dairy sector in both Europe and Latin America.

We extend our warmest congratulations to Xabier Díaz de Otálora Aguirre on his well-deserved accomplishment and wish him continued success in his future career. We look forward to our further cooperation and joint exchange.