As part of the ERASMUS programme, Ingo Mose visited the University of Salzburg from 13 to 19 October 2024 and gave a block seminar at the Department of Sociology and Social Geography on the role of territorial protection for regional development. A one-day excursion as part of the seminar took the students to the Attersee-Traunsee Nature Park, where they visited the management of the nature park and were able to gain an insight into the practical aspects of its work. Ingo Mose's working group has been closely associated with geography in Salzburg for many years.

Svenja Köhler, a graduate of the Master's degree programme in Sustainability Economics and Management, won 2nd prize in this year's competition for the Lower Saxony Rural Academy University Prize. She was honoured at a public event in Hanover on 14 November. The topic of Svenja Köhler's Master's thesis was the role of the Obervinschgau citizens' cooperative (South Tyrol) for sustainable development in the region. The prizewinner had spent some time in the region and was able to gain valuable insights into a subject area of geographical spatial research that has so far been little or not at all scientifically explored as part of her own empirical surveys. The work was supervised by Ingo Mose.

This year's annual conference of the Rural Areas Working Group of the German Geographical Society (DGfG) took place at the University of Applied Forest Sciences from 14 to 16 November. With Anne-Marie Walczuch, Jule Froehlich, Maren Kleinaus, Ernst Schäfer and Ingo Mose, several scientists from Oldenburg also took part in the conference and presented results from their projects. An excursion took the conference participants to the Swabian Alb biosphere reserve, where they gained insights into the work of protected area management.

Philipp Heuer took part in the Rural Science Slam of the Andreas Hermes Academy on 5 December 2024 in Berlin and won 1st prize for his contribution! Congratulations from the Applied Geography and Environmental Planning working group!

On the morning of 27 November 2024, 20 different representatives from the fields of research, politics, water management and agriculture came together in Leeraner Miniaturland to work on the "Future-Proof-Graslands" project as part of the Moormerland Stakeholder Community's kick-off event. After a few introductory words about the project, which is about adapting grassland to climate change through sustainable management and making it fit for the future, the second half of the event moved into the interactive work phase. The aim was to develop an initial overview of the ecosystem services that are relevant to grassland in Moormerland. Using the world café method, various ecosystem services were assessed in small groups according to the categories of provisioning, regulating and cultural services. The results obtained form an important basis on which to build further in the form of interviews in the coming spring of 2025.

Under the direction of Ingo Mose and Peter Schaal, students from various Master's degree programmes took part in an excursion to Kingston-upon-Thames, UK, from 20 to 25 March 2024. The excursion focused on aspects of water management, flood protection, the revitalisation of former harbour districts and the development of the coast for tourism. In addition to Kingston-upon-Thames, London, the North Downs region and the city of Brighton provided the group with suitable "on-site" objects of study. The excursion was organised in close co-operation with Dr Stuart Downward from Kingston University London, who has been closely associated with the Applied Geography and Environmental Planning working group for many years. Kingston University London is a partner university of the University of Oldenburg and a regular destination for Oldenburg students for a semester abroad in England.

We are very pleased to invite you to the following workshop in the DFG-funded co-operation project "Regional Brands and Large Protected Areas" of our working group and our project partner, the Chair of Economic Geography at RWTH Aachen University:

The results of the joint research project "InDaLe - Innovative approaches to public services in rural areas", which came to an end last year, can now be viewed in the form of an information brochure. As part of the project, the Oldenburg Applied Geography and Environmental Planning working group investigated the area of after-school education, which has so far received comparatively little attention in the discussion about securing services of general interest and, in particular, their importance for regional development. Examples from Sweden and Scotland, which were analysed by the Oldenburg team, impressively show how important post-school education is for the development of peripheral, sparsely populated rural areas in particular. The brochure is available for download at the following address:
https://www.indale.org/fileadmin/indale/musterbilder/PDF/LUH_InDaLE_2023_RZ_web_Doppelseiten.pdf

As part of Philipp Heuer's course "Fundamentals of Spatial and Environmental Planning", students took part in an excursion through Oldenburg's city centre on 9 February 2024. The topic was current and future challenges of urban development in the area between Pferdemarkt and Altem Stadthafen. Markus Löwer, Head of the City of Oldenburg's Urban Planning Office, kindly made himself available as an expert speaker to guide the excursion.

As part of the joint project "4 N - Nordwest Niedersachsen Nachhaltig Neu", the Applied Geography and Environmental Planning working group organised a full-day workshop on 8 February 2024 on the challenges of the transformation of rural areas in the Weser-Ems region for regional development. Prof Dr Rainer Danielzyk from the Institute for Environmental Planning at the University of Hanover supported the working group as a close cooperation partner in the preparation of the workshop. At the invitation of the organisers, almost 40 representatives from planning offices of the districts and independent cities, regional planning offices, the Bremen-Oldenburg metropolitan region in the northwest and other institutions from the region came to the university. Representatives from the Dutch province of Groningen also found their way to Oldenburg. Stefan Siedentop (TU Dortmund University), Eva-Maria Langfermann (Oldenburg district), Dr Koen Salemink (University of Groningen) and Prof. Dr Jan Stielike (Jade University of Applied Sciences Oldenburg) provided important input on the topic. After an intensive discussion in several thematic working groups, the event concluded with a panel discussion chaired by Philipp Heuer. Prof Dr Axel Priebs, President of the Academy for Spatial Development in the Leibniz Association, had also made the journey from Hanover to Oldenburg for the event. Many of the participants expressed the wish to continuethe science-practice dialogue on regional planning issues in the region with similar events in the future.

As part of the joint project "Future Proof Grasslands", a full-day workshop was held at the Hanse Wissenschaftskolleg in Delmenhorst on 6 February 2024, which was attended by many of the scientists involved in the project. The meeting was largely organised by Anne-Marie Walczuch and Jule Froehlich from the Applied Geography and Environmental Planning working group at the University of Oldenburg. The meeting focussed on discussing the common theoretical and conceptual foundations of the research project and the work steps to be taken in the coming months.