Modelling Human-Nature Interactions - in the Digital Anthropocene

PhD defence by Ping Chang

Assessment Committee

Associate Professor Christian Fertner, Geosciences and Natural Resource Management, IGN, University of Copenhagen (Chairperson)

Priv.-Doz. Dipl.-Ing Dr. Karolina Taczanowska, Institute of Landscape Development, Recreation and Conservation Planning University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna (BOKU)

Senior Research Scientist, Geospatial scientist Zander Venter, Norwegian Institute for Nature Research (NINA)

Supervisors

Associate Professor Anton Stahl Olafsson
Assistant Professor Megan Lynn Maurer
Professor Hans Skov-Petersen

Department

Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management

Place

Room: Von Langen, Rolighedsvej 23, 1958 Frederiksberg C

Email address to gain access to the thesis: pingchang6@outlook.com.
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Short description of the thesis

This PhD thesis examines human–nature interactions in the Digital Anthropocene, a period in which digital technologies increasingly shape how people experience, interact with, and understand nature. As everyday activities generate growing volumes of digital data, new opportunities emerge for studying these interactions while also raising important questions about how knowledge is produced. Because HN interactions are fundamental to human wellbeing, environmental stewardship, and biodiversity conservation, this research investigates how digital data and advanced spatial analytical methods can improve our understanding of where, how, and why people engage with nature. At the same time, it critically examines the opportunities and limitations of data-driven research, arguing that technology is not merely a tool for studying human–nature relationships but an active mediator of both the interactions themselves and the knowledge produced about them.