Mona Holy

• Since 2020 MSc Systems Thinking in Practice at the Open University with focus on strategy and communication 

• 2014-2019 BSc Environmental Science / Combined STEM at the Open University with  focus on science evaluation, science communication, environmental management and ecosystems

• 2016-2019 Student Assistant at the Institute for didactics of biology at the LMU (Ludwig Maximilians University Munich)

• 2016 -2018 Student Assistant in the AAD project of the Chair for Terrestrial Ecology at the TUM (Technical University Munich)

Since the beginning of my BSc Environmental Science studies I was interested in interdisciplinary and functional contexts. Thus I chose diverse core areas: science evaluation, science communication, ecosystems and environmental management. I noticed that environmental communication and management amongst science, individuals and societal groups as well as policy makers is very complex, but may be partly unexploited.

The experience with the AAD project (TUM) made clear that the overarching performance of good research, management and communication – towards the public as well as within interdisciplinary scenarios – determines the success of especially cross-disciplinary ecology projects, uniting research with public projects, to a high degree. Hence I became curious how ‘performance’ in this area can be analysed, exemplified and modified.

Eventually, I chose Systems Thinking for my master studies so to explore feedback dynamics in systems on multiple levels whilst becoming familiar with systems tools as management aids. My current focus lies on communication and the impact of narratives on ‘reality’ in the subject areas ecology and climate change.