Founding directors of the Centre

• Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Pierre L. Ibisch (*1967) was a Professor for “Nature Conservation” at the Faculty for Forest and Environment at Eberswalde University for Sustainable Development since 2004.
• In March 2024, the denomination of his permanent professorship changed to “Socio-ecology of forest ecosystems”.
• Since 2009, he has also held research professorships, the latest of which is dedicated to "Ecosystem-based sustainable development".
• He received an honorary doctorate from the National Forestry University of Ukraine in Lviv. 

In Eberswalde, Pierre served as dean of the faculty and long-term member of the faculty board and the senate.

He is founding director of the Centre for Econics and Ecosystem Management (since 2011) and was one of the scientific directors of the Biosphere Reserves Institute (2019-2024), which achieved UNESCO status (as Category II institute).

He was founding head of the international Master's programme Global Change Management, M.Sc., co-created the international Master's programme Biosphere Reserves Management, M.Sc. in Eberswalde, and is founder of the new Bachelor’s programme Sozialökologisches Waldmanagement (Socio-ecological forest management), B.Sc. (2024- ). As the academic initiator of this programme, he is responsible for the creation of an inter-institutional network that also provides long-term funding for three new endowed professorships.

For many years, he has served on the board of the Society for Conservation Biology Europe Section (2005-2007, 2011-2013) and as chair of the Policy Committee of the section. He was a co-founder of the European Congress of Conservation Biology (ECCB; 2006 onwards).

He is a member of the advisory board of the Naturwald Akademie and Michael Succow Foundation as well of the board of trustees of NABU (Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union, Germany). From 2025 onwards, he is also member of the Board of Directors of OroVerde - Die Tropenwaldstiftung.

At Eberswalde University, he has been a frontrunner in the acquisition of third-party funding for many years.

Prof. Dr. Peter Hobson was a  research champion for the School of Sustainable Environments at at Writtle University College. His research interests include proxy measures of ecosystem resilience and thermodynamic efficiency in forests and other semi-natural landscapes with a view to mitigating against the impacts of climate change.

The findings of this research have been presented at international conferences (e.g., ECCB, IUFRO, COP10 Nagoya meeting) and also published in a variety of formats. Peter also acted as scientific advisor on various UK Government agency steering groups including the Environment Agency for East of England, the Forestry Commission Regional Woodland Group, and the Chelmsford and Essex Biodiversity Action Group.