About
I am a senior scientist, carpenter, innovator, small business owner and parent.
Originally from Germany, I have worked over the course of 38 years in the manufacturing industry, tourism, education, leadership training, government and academia from Europe via Antarctica and the USA to Australia. Accepting a position with the Australian Antarctic Division I decided in 2011 to settle and make Tasmania my permanent home.
While I do have 30+ years of work experience I am young at heart, innovative and full of ‘fresh out of the box’ ideas.
Over the past three years, I have taken parental leave and focused my life as a single parent on providing my son with the love and care he deserves and among other things, organising two parenting groups, volunteering for Mental Health Family and Friends Tasmania and parents Beyond Breakup.
I am a strong supporter of small businesses, a lover of the Arts and a keen outdoor person.
After completing the German Staatsexamen (combined masters, masters of education) in Geography and Physical Education and an intermezzo in medicine I spent much of my career studying glaciers and climate change around the world and getting a Ph.D in Earth Science from the University of California Santa Cruz.
Aside from doing science I was involved in technology developments, such as building an ROV and other science instrumentation to deploy through a narrow borehole to study rivers, lakes and the ocean beneath the frozen continent.
While I firmly believe Science should inform politics and politicians should base their decisions on sound scientific evidence,
as a scientist, I also always remember the human aspect and the individual experience.
Science
Career Transition & Humanity
The human aspect is an important and fascinating aspect.
For the past few years I have been transitioning my career towards social problems and human interactions.
I have studied and worked in the area of sustainability, nature based solutions and for the past few years I am studying towards a bachelor in Psychological Sciences and Law.
I am in the final stages of the Graduate Certificate in Neuro-Linguistic Programming with Inpiritive and along the way I have completed the Post Grad Cert Child, Youth and Family Mental Health with the Cairn Millar Institute, the Mediation Skill Set with Relationships Australia Victoria and a Post Graduate Certificate - Parental Alienation, Inst. of Family Therapy & Systemic Practice, Malta.
I am also volunteering as facilitator of a suicide prevention group for Parents Beyond Breakup and was involved in the development of the Mental Health Families and Friend Tasmania Self-Advocacy Program – Toolkit.
Tasmanian Stewardship
I strongly believe that we can combine strong economic growth with environmental stewardship protecting our most valuable asset the beautiful natural environment of Tasmania for the benefit of all.
With my international experience, I am impressed by so many young innovators driving small business development (food trucks, smart technology, markets, yoga and arts to name a few) and the number of small corner stores, something which has become very rare in other parts of this world. This makes southern Tasmania a very unique, charming and lovable place.
Tasmania, Hobart and the electorate of Clark has amazing intelligent people, who are passionate about their home state and love their city, providing all the ingredients for a prosperous future.
I do believe in developing opportunities that benefit all residents and don’t sell our assets cheaply to the first bidder.
I am very interested in fostering the economic growth across Tasmania and specifically the Clark electorate - the wider Hobart area and southern Tasmania. I do believe that this can be done and needs to be done Sustainably with environmental responsibility, reducing the impact on its residents and the natural environment.
In my “free” time
A few things that I enjoy in my “free” time:
Outdoor activities, gardening, volunteering for a good cause, renovating my house, working on science instrumentation, photography.
I also love to cook and share a meal over a nice glass of red wine and good conversations with friends.
Last but not least: listening to music and checking out the latest art exhibitions as well as attending our amazing festivals rain or shine.