Meet Denicia

Denicia majored in Earth and Environmental Sciences (now Environmental and Sustainability Sciences) and graduated in the 7th cohort in 2022. During her studies, she discovered a strong interest in ecology and tailored their coursework and bachelor’s thesis toward ecological management and laboratory research on bark beetles. Their Liberal Arts and Sciences background encouraged interdisciplinary thinking, which enriched her master’s studies in Environmental Sciences, focusing on Wildlife and Biodiversity. Currently, she’s pursuing a PhD on pesticides and their ecological and regulatory impacts. Denicia valued the resilience and initiative fostered by her LAS education and encourages new students to design their electives, internships and summer jobs to the requirements of their desired master programs or jobs and create their own pathway.

“During my studies, I majored in Earth and Environmental Sciences (EES). Throughout my studies, I slowly began to realise that the most common career pathways were either in environmental governance or sustainability. However, I had a strong interest in the ecological focus of environmental science. Because of this, I tailored my elective profile to focus on ecological management. By the end of my studies, I also wanted some laboratory experience, which, unfortunately, was not easily available within the ESS study programme. So, I tailored my bachelor’s thesis to primarily consist of laboratory work, focusing on an aspect of the ecological behaviour of the common bark beetle. I found that LAS did not limit my academic pursuits, but rather enriched them by offering courses from other disciplines and even from across the wider university community.

After LAS, I pursued a M.Sc. in Environmental Sciences, specialising in Wildlife and Biodiversity, at the University of Freiburg. Initially, I thought this course would be too scientifically focused, and having studied LAS, I guess I had a different perspective on environmental sciences. However, as the courses progressed, I realised that environmental science is not only scientifically grounded, but also depends largely on human management and research. I found that LAS had actually strengthened my ability to think outside the box – a skill that my colleagues did not possess. LAS also taught me how to handle different situations with some form of ease – from gauging theories in environmental policy, to designing a field work experiment, to tackling programming! During my masters and even LAS itself, I also had a number of student assistant jobs at the Uni Freiburg and internships either at the Freiburg Research Institute of Advanced Studies (FRIAS) or the Forestry Research Institute (FVA) which helped strengthen my foundation in ecological research.

The interdisciplinary nature of LAS sometimes made it difficult for me to identify a clear career path. While I appreciate aspects of natural science, my desire for its greater involvement in policymaking made it challenging to narrow down my interests. Should I pursue natural science, environmental social science, or environmental justice? I still ask myself these questions to this day, especially since my master’s studies taught me that biodiversity conservation is not independent from management. Fortunately, I found a great working group at the Chair of Nature Conservation and Landscape Ecology, where I have been given the opportunity to pursue my PhD at the science–policy interface. This department focuses on everything from pollinators and ecology and, in my case, pesticides and their scientific, ecological and regulatory implications. I would say that although LAS made it more challenging to create a narrow pathway for myself, it also taught me resilience and that I should take initiative to forge my own pathway independent of whether my major was interdisciplinary or not.

My advice would be that if you are unsure what the future holds with an LAS degree, look already at the master programs/job requirements in areas that interest you and see what they are looking for. Design your electives, internships and summer jobs to their requirements and make your own pathway!”

published February 5, 2026