Manuel John

• since 07/2023
  Research Associate at the Forest Research Institute Baden-Württemberg
• since 06/2020
  Doctoral Candidate at the Chair of Sustainability Governance at the Institute for Environmental Social Sciences and Geography at the University of Freiburg
• 07/2019 – 01/2023
  Research Associate at the Chair of Sustainability Governance at the Institute for Environmental Social Sciences and Geography and PhD project in the DFG research training group “ConFoBi – Conservation of Forest Biodiversity in Multiple-Use Landscapes of Central Europe at the University of Freiburg
• 10/2017 – 06/2019
  Junior Researcher at the Black Forest National Park

Stages of the academic education

• 10/2013 – 03/2017
  M.A. Sociology at the Friedrich Schiller University Jena and Bilgi University İstanbul
• 10/2009 – 09/2013
  B.A. Social Sciences (Political Science, Media and Communication Studies, Sociology) at the Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf

Manuel is a sociologist by training, more recently specializing in Science & Technology Studies (STS). His methods of choice are qualitative interviews and interpretative and discourse analysis. In his work, he focuses on social aspects of nature conservation in forests, both in protected areas and in managed forests. He is particularly fascinated by the different ways in which nature is ‘known’, both by professionals in science, conservation and forestry, and by the general public.

His current research foci are in the following areas:

• Environmental Sociology
• Sociology of Knowledge and Science & Technology Studies
• Sociological and Social Theory
• Qualitative Research, especially Narrative Interviews and Reconstructive Analysis

• “Environmental Sociology” (MEG, Teaching Assistant & Co-Lecturer)
• “Governance Research and Skills, Qualitative Interviewing” (MEG, Teaching Assistant & Co-Lecturer)
• “Empirical Social Science Methods, Quantitative Survey Methods” (MEG, Teaching Assistant)
• “Conservation of Forest Biodiversity, Introduction into Social Science Methods/Marteloscope Exercise (Excursion)” (MA Forest Sciences/Environmental Sciences, Co-Lecturer)
• “Fungi in the Anthropocene” (University College Freiburg, Liberal Arts & Sciences (LAS), Co-Lecturer)

• Klingenfuß, Sara; John, Manuel; Halla, Tuulikki; Loch, Theresa Klara; Mack, Philipp; Meyers, Barbara; Mikoleit, Ronja; Peltola, Taru (2025): Workshop: Stories of the Understory. Research Ideas and Outcomes 11: e164067. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/rio.11.e164067
• John, Manuel; Wirth, Kristina; Kaufmann, Anna; Ertelt, Hannah; Frei, Theresa (2024): Forest deliberations: Marteloscopes as sites of encounter between climate activists and forest managers. DOI https://doi.org/10.1016/j.forpol.2024.103356
• Weber, Sarah; John, Manuel (2019): Beredte Spaziergänge im Wald – Methodische Herausforderungen und analytischer Erkenntnisgewinn von Go-Along-Interviews. In: Sattlegger, Lukas/Deppisch, Larissa/Rudolfi, Markus (Hrsg.): Methoden umweltsoziologischer Forschung. Tagungsband der 15. Tagung der Nachwuchsgruppe Umweltsoziologie. ISOE-Materialien Soziale Ökologie, 56. Frankfurt am Main: ISOE – Institut für sozialökologische Forschung, S. 131-147. http://www.isoe-publikationen.de