Team

David Kreis recently finished his Ph.D., which focuses on the method of Gaiagraphy as a representation of spatio-temporal relationships of humans and non-humans in ecosystem-strengthening coastal protection. He holds Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Landscape Architecture from Leibniz University Hannover and is a licensed landscape architect. He is currently coordinating ReSpace! as a postdoctoral researcher. His areas of interest range from designing sustainable urban spaces to critical zone sciences, which study the thin layer of the Earth's surface where all life is located.

Dr. Mark Mennenga has been working in research and development at the TechnischeUniversität Braunschweig for over 15 years, particularly at the Institute of Machine Tools and Production Technology (IWF). He currently serves as Deputy Head of the Chair of Sustainable Manufacturing and Life Cycle Engineering at IWF, overseeing research management and strategic coordination. Since November 2017, he has been leading the “System of Systems Engineering” Department. Dr. Mennenga’s career encompasses a wide array of projects in the fields of Sustainable Manufacturing, Life Cycle Engineering, and Production Technology. His work demonstrates his long-term commitment to promoting sustainability and production technology from a systems perspective.

Lasse Bienzeisler is a postdoctoral researcher and heads the Transport Demand Modelling research group at TU Braunschweig’s Institute of Transportation and Urban Engineering. His research focuses on understanding and simulating how people and goods move through cities and regions. During his doctorate, he developed HAGRID, a large-scale agent-based simulation framework for last-mile parcel delivery. His current work includes synthetic populations, regional travel demand models, and the integration of on-demand services into public transport. He uses these models to explore how new mobility and logistics concepts affect accessibility, transport operations, and environmental impacts across urban, suburban, and rural areas.

Hendrik Bimmermann earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in transportation engineering from the Technical University of Braunschweig. He is currently pursuing his Ph.D. at the Institute of Transportation and Urban Engineering at TU Braunschweig, where his primary focus is on the modeling and simulation of transportation systems. Within the ReSpace! project, his main research interests lie in the development, modeling, and simulation-based evaluation of infrastructural, operational, and vehicle-based solutions for integrating freight and goods transport in an urban context.

Luisa Mennecke received her Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering from University of Duisburg-Essen and her Master's degree in Electronic Systems in Automotive, Aerospace and Aeronautical Engineering from Technische Universität Braunschweig. She is currently pursuing her Ph.D. at the Institute for Intermodal Transport and Logistics Systems at TU Braunschweig, where her research focuses on optimization problems such as the Capacitated Vehicle Routing Problem (CVRP) and location-allocation problems. Within the research project ReSpace!, she investigates routing problems relevant to the city of the future. Her particular interests include the structured analysis of complex systems, their mathematical modeling, and the development of solution approaches for sustainable mobility and logistics systems.

Laura Obermann completed her Bachelor’s degree in Tourism Management at Ostfalia University of Applied Sciences in Salzgitter and her Master’s degree in Technology-Oriented Management at the Technische Universität Braunschweig. She is currently pursuing her PhD at the Institute for Machine Tools and Manufacturing Technology, where she is investigating how urban factories can be planned and operated within planetary boundaries whilst taking human needs into account. In the ReSpace! project, she is investigating in particular how urban production systems can be redesigned to contribute to absolute sustainability, strengthen communities and promote circular and socially responsible value creation.

Paul holds an M.Sc. in Urban Design and a B.Sc. in Urban and Regional Planning, both from TU Berlin. He has gained professional experience at the Berlin-based urban design and planning studio Yellow Z and as a researcher at Hochschule Anhalt in Dessau. He is currently pursuing his PhD at the Institute for Sustainable Urbanism (ISU) at TU Braunschweig. Within the ReSpace! project, he investigates current and future processes of transformation and urban at the regional scale. His particular interest lies in the changing character of infrastructure and energy landscapes in the context of climate change.

Rebekka’s interest in modelling engineering problems began during her Bachelor’s studies, when she worked as a student research assistant in battery simulation. From this, she developed a strong interest in understanding and modelling complex systems, which motivated her to pursue a Master’s degree in Computational Sciences in Engineering at TU Braunschweig, where she further developed her skills in modelling and machine learning. Rebekka now works at the Institute for Applied Mechanics in the division of Data-Driven Modeling of Mechanical Systems. In her research within ReSpace, she focuses on how urban spaces can be designed to be more resilient and adaptable. To do so, she uses simulation-based approaches to analyse, for example, urban climate dynamics.

Johanna Gelhaus obtained her Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in environmental sciences at the Technische Universität Braunschweig. Currently, she is pursuing her Ph.D. at the Institute of Geoecology, where her research focuses on the climatological impacts of urban adaptation measures to climate change. Within the ReSpace! Project, she investigates the effects of blue, green, and grey infrastructure (BGGI) on urban climate adaptation and mitigation using a hybrid modelling approach combining observational data, process-based models, and machine learning.

Raphaela Nickel passed her state examination to become a secondary school teacher in English, History and Catholic Theology at the University of Kassel. She is currently pursuing her PhD at the Institute of English and American Studies at TU Braunschweig, where she is researching the representation of climate migration in contemporary literature. As a researcher for the ReSpace! Project, her focus lies on how literary texts address the social, spatial, and ecological impacts of climate-induced migration and mobility.

Moritz Vocht earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in automotive engineering from the Technical University of Braunschweig. He is currently pursuing his Ph.D. at the Institute for Intermodal Transport and Logistics Systems at TU Braunschweig and, as part of the ReSpace! research project, is working on various optimization problems such as the Capacitated Facility Location Problem (CFLP) or the Capacitated Vehicle Routing Problem (CVRP), for example, to locate mobility hubs for the city of the future. His research interests range from optimization and modeling at the operational level (e.g., NMPC for vehicle control) to strategic planning problems in urban systems (e.g., CFLP). He is also interested in combining classical optimization methods with machine learning techniques.