Group Leader: Research Group Sylvanus, Institute for Technology Assessment and Systems Analysis (ITAS), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)
"KIT-Associate-Fellow" [eligible to be a Ph.D. Supervisor and Examiner (Prüfungsberechtigung)] at the Faculty of Civil Engineering, Geo and Environmental Sciences, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology
Emails: somidh.saha@kit.edu; somidhs@gmail.com
"KIT-Associate-Fellow" [eligible to be a Ph.D. Supervisor and Examiner (Prüfungsberechtigung)] at the Faculty of Civil Engineering, Geo and Environmental Sciences, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology
Emails: somidh.saha@kit.edu; somidhs@gmail.com
Updates
- Our latest research found that drought tolerance differed between 5 temperate urban tree species but traffic pollution did not influence tree ring growth. We also found that drought in spring had more negative effect on tree ring growth than drought in summer.
- Our research had shown how trade-offs and synergies between different types of ecosystem services vary in urban and peri-urban forests
- I talked very briefly about city trees in Radio Deutschlandfunk Nova on 23.03.2022
- Our research reported the stakeholders' perceptions on forest conversions in the Black Forest region
- Research activities of my group were featured in a short documentary from the Deutsche Welle's Eco India program (2021)
- The GrüneLunge 2.0 project, a urban forestry research consortium lead by me at the Karlsruhe region, received another 1.1 million Euro funding from the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) for implementing the results from the first phase of the project (more to follow) (2021)
- In a recent paper, colleagues from India, the USA and me, had shown the potential of non-timber forest products in bioeconomy of the Kashmir Himalayas, India (2021)
- Our research showed that cultural ecosystem services from urban and peri-urban forests reduced stress among the residents of Karlsruhe and Rheinstetten during the Covid-19 related lockdown (2021)
- An article about my research and personal story on my journey from a small village of Assam, India to Karlsruhe (Germany) via Bhutan, West Bengal and Dehra Dun! (2021)
- Please listen a Deutsche Welle's Podcast where I talked about our research on forest mortality (2021)
- Our research on forest fire was highlighted in ZDF television's Planet E documentary (2021)
- I won the YIN (Young Investigator Network) Award 2021 and YIN Research Grant 2021 (Euro 20,000) of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology jointly with Dr. Claudia Bizzarri for our project on photosynthesis (2021)
- Research grant on regeneration and restoration after forest fire (2020)
- A new project on future "biocities" (2020)
- Project on mitigation of heat islands' impact in urban areas (2019)
- Research grant on increasing resilience of urban forests (2018)
About my research
Globally, forests are declining due to human activities, diseases, and climate change-induced disturbances. My research aims to restore forests and make them more resilient to climate change impacts. I work in urban, commercially managed, semi-natural, and nature protection areas at temperate, subtropical, and tropical forest ecosystems. I believe that solutions for the grand challenges in forestry should be developed by inter and transdisciplinary research. In my research, I connect forest inventory, modelling, experimental ecology, silviculture, plant biology, technology assessment to the socioecological, sociocultural, and socio-technical dimensions of forests.
Globally, forests are declining due to human activities, diseases, and climate change-induced disturbances. My research aims to restore forests and make them more resilient to climate change impacts. I work in urban, commercially managed, semi-natural, and nature protection areas at temperate, subtropical, and tropical forest ecosystems. I believe that solutions for the grand challenges in forestry should be developed by inter and transdisciplinary research. In my research, I connect forest inventory, modelling, experimental ecology, silviculture, plant biology, technology assessment to the socioecological, sociocultural, and socio-technical dimensions of forests.
About me
My first-name in the Sanskrit language ("Somidh" in Latin script, "समिध " in Devanagari, and "সমিধ " in Bengali script) means sacred wood of species such as Aegle marmelos, Santalum album, Ficus spp., which are burned during Yajñá or religious fire ceremony to worship Hindu God of Fire Agni. I was born in the village Bhowraguri, Kokrajhar district, Assam, India, which is situated near the Eastern Himalayas. I spent until the age of 10 at the village Lhamoyzingkha of Bhutan (Kalikhola in Nepali), at the lush green Himalayan valley of the river Sankosh. My first schooling was at the Lhamoyzingkha Central School, known also as Kalikhola Junior High School. My childhood in Bhutan, immersed in the beautiful forests of the majestic Himalayas had influenced the later education and career. My family moved to Bhadreswar, Hooghly district of West Bengal, India, in 1991. I studied from class five to twelve in the neighboring city of Chandernagore at the higher secondary school Kanailal Vidyamandir, which the French Colonial Administration established as Ecole de Sainte Marie/Dupleix College in 1862. I graduated with B.Sc. Honours in Zoology from the Presidency College, University of Calcutta, in 2003. An excursion to the Jim Corbett National Park in north-India as a B.Sc. student ignited the jungle-lore of my childhood, hence, motivated me to study Forestry. I completed a M.Sc. degree in Forestry from the Forest Research Institute, Dehra Dun, India, in 2005. The German Forester Sir Dietrich Brandis established the Forest Research Institute of India ("father of tropical silviculture") in 1878 as the first western forestry training school outside Europe. My interest in German forestry and sustainability research grew when I was a student at the Forest Research Institute of India. I worked as a Forester (in a permanent position) in the Eastern Indian state of Orissa from 2005 to 2008 at the Ballarpur Industries Limited, then India's largest pulp and paper company. I moved to Germany in 2008 with a scholarship from the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD - Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst) to do a Ph.D. (Dr. rer. nat.) in Forestry at the Albert Ludwigs University of Freiburg under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Jürgen Bauhus. I also did my Postdoctoral Research in Freiburg and worked there until 2016. I joined Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) on 1st January 2017 as a Scientist. Since, January 2021 I have been working in KIT as a research group leader/senior scientist in a permanent position. I am married, and my son was born in Karlsruhe in 2019.
My first-name in the Sanskrit language ("Somidh" in Latin script, "समिध " in Devanagari, and "সমিধ " in Bengali script) means sacred wood of species such as Aegle marmelos, Santalum album, Ficus spp., which are burned during Yajñá or religious fire ceremony to worship Hindu God of Fire Agni. I was born in the village Bhowraguri, Kokrajhar district, Assam, India, which is situated near the Eastern Himalayas. I spent until the age of 10 at the village Lhamoyzingkha of Bhutan (Kalikhola in Nepali), at the lush green Himalayan valley of the river Sankosh. My first schooling was at the Lhamoyzingkha Central School, known also as Kalikhola Junior High School. My childhood in Bhutan, immersed in the beautiful forests of the majestic Himalayas had influenced the later education and career. My family moved to Bhadreswar, Hooghly district of West Bengal, India, in 1991. I studied from class five to twelve in the neighboring city of Chandernagore at the higher secondary school Kanailal Vidyamandir, which the French Colonial Administration established as Ecole de Sainte Marie/Dupleix College in 1862. I graduated with B.Sc. Honours in Zoology from the Presidency College, University of Calcutta, in 2003. An excursion to the Jim Corbett National Park in north-India as a B.Sc. student ignited the jungle-lore of my childhood, hence, motivated me to study Forestry. I completed a M.Sc. degree in Forestry from the Forest Research Institute, Dehra Dun, India, in 2005. The German Forester Sir Dietrich Brandis established the Forest Research Institute of India ("father of tropical silviculture") in 1878 as the first western forestry training school outside Europe. My interest in German forestry and sustainability research grew when I was a student at the Forest Research Institute of India. I worked as a Forester (in a permanent position) in the Eastern Indian state of Orissa from 2005 to 2008 at the Ballarpur Industries Limited, then India's largest pulp and paper company. I moved to Germany in 2008 with a scholarship from the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD - Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst) to do a Ph.D. (Dr. rer. nat.) in Forestry at the Albert Ludwigs University of Freiburg under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Jürgen Bauhus. I also did my Postdoctoral Research in Freiburg and worked there until 2016. I joined Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) on 1st January 2017 as a Scientist. Since, January 2021 I have been working in KIT as a research group leader/senior scientist in a permanent position. I am married, and my son was born in Karlsruhe in 2019.
