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Biography

Christiansen

Remote sensing and GIS

Dr. Thomas Christiansen


Biography Dr. Thomas Christiansen
  • 1975 - 1982 Studies of Geography (major) with Soils Science, Geology and Land Improvement as minors at the Justus-Liebig-University Giessen. 1983 one-year postgraduate Course in Remote Sensing at the International Institute for Aerospace Survey and Earth Sciences (ITC) in Enschede, Netherlands, thereafter briefly Student Assistant at the same institution.
  • 1984 - 1990 Staff member of the Consulting firm Agrar- und Hydrotechnik International Consulting Engineers (meanwhile renamed AHT Group AG Management & Engineering), in Essen, Germany. Numerous consulting missions as short-term and long-term expert for bi- and multilateral donor organisation clients (GTZ, KfW, EG, Worldbank) to various technical cooperation projects in East Afriac, Asia and the Middle East. 1987 - 1989 long-term position as Technical Advisor to the Head of the Land Use and Construction Division in the Ministry of Agriculture, Amman, Jordan.
  • 1990 – 2006 Assistant Professor ('Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter', since 2006 'Akademischer Rat') at the Chair for Social Geography at the Department of Geography, Justus-Liebig-University Giessen. Numerous consulting missions on behalf of GTZ to India, the Philippines, Tunisia, Nepal, Ethiopia ,Sri Lanka. 1991 Scientific study in Indonesia for the Kernforschungsanstalt Jülich. 1991 - 1999 member of the interdisciplinary GTZ Working Group on Geographical Information Systems in Technical Cooperation. 1994 - 1997 Post-Graduate Distance Learning Programme 'Geographical Information Systems' (UNIGIS Postgraduate Programme) at the Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, UK. 1995 Ph.D. at the Justus-Liebig-University Giessen with a dissertation on 'Geographical Information Systems for Regional Rural Development Projects in Developing Countries'.
  • 2006 – 2009 long-term leave from the University of Giessen to take over a position as 'Integrated Expert' on behalf of the Centre for International Migration and Development (CIM) at the Polytechnic of Namibia in Windhoek. 2006 – 2007 Professor / Director for Land Management at the Department of Land Management, Polytechnic of Namibia. 2007 – 2009 Head of Department with managerial responsibility for the entire department, its budget and almost 30 staff members. At the same time, close cooperation with various bi- and multi-lateral technical cooperation institutions, in particular in the fields of 'Land Reform', 'Land Use Planning'  and 'Formalisation of Informal Settlements'. Several consulting missions and studies for GTZ, GTZ International Services and Lux-Development.
  • Since 2010 back at Giessen University as Assistant Professor at the Chair for Social Geography and in the Section Geoinformatics & Remote Sensing. On the sideline, project backstopping for a Land Reform Project in Namibia and appointed as Country Specialist for Namibia at the 'Vorbereitungsstätte für Entwicklungszusammenarbeit' (V-EZ) in Bad Honnef, Germany.

Detailed Curriculum Vitae see attached PDF-File