Description: The Pilot Study module provides students with hands-on experience in designing and implementing ecological studies
that generate data suitable for forecasting applications. Working under the supervision of a faculty member within the Ecological Forecasting program, and optionally in collaboration with an external partner organisation (regional, national, or international), students undertake an independent research internship.
Within this framework, students learn to identify relevant research questions, select study gradients or treatment levels, design appropriate sampling schemes, and estimate sampling effort to achieve forecast precision targets. The internship may focus on experimental, observational, or modelling components, depending on the context and host institution. In many cases, the Pilot Study provides preliminary data and conceptual groundwork for the subsequent Master Project.
Students may complete between one and three Pilot Study modules (each 5 CP), depending on their individual study plan.
Learning outcomes:
Design and implement a field, laboratory, or computational study addressing an ecological forecasting question.
Apply principles of experimental design, data generation, and uncertainty quantification to real-world ecological systems.
Estimate sampling effort and identify key sources of uncertainty affecting forecast reliability.
Collect, manage, and document data according to open science standards and reproducible workflows.
Reect critically on the study design in the context of the forecasting objectives.
Module group: Pilot Studies
Credits: 5 ECTS
Lecturers: Prof. Dr. Tobias Ullmann