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Jens-Christian Svenning is Professor of Ecology and Centre Director at the Department of Biology at Aarhus University. He obtained an MSc in biology in 1997 and a PhD in ecology in 1999 from Aarhus University, with his doctoral research focusing on the population and community ecology of Neotropical rain forest palms. He began his academic career as an assistant professor at Aarhus University in 1999, held a postdoctoral position at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute from 2000 to 2002, and progressed through associate professor and professor (MSO) roles before his appointment as full professor in 2013. He previously directed the Center for Biodiversity Dynamics in a Changing World (BIOCHANGE) from 2017 to 2023 and now leads the DNRF Center for Ecological Dynamics in a Novel Biosphere (ECONOVO).
Svenning is a macroecologist and biogeographer whose research addresses biodiversity dynamics, global change biology, climate change impacts on ecosystems, rewilding, ecological restoration, human-nature interactions, paleoecology, and ecoinformatics. His work emphasizes disequilibrium dynamics, top-down trophic effects, and the application of large-scale data and remote sensing technologies. He has held editorial positions including subject editor and deputy editor-in-chief at Ecography and associate editor at the Journal of Biogeography. Svenning has served on boards such as the Maasai Mara Science and Development Initiative, the 15. Juni Fonden, Rewilding Europe Supervisory Board, and the Danish Biodiversity Council. He is a recipient of numerous honors, including the EliteForsk Prize in 2014, Queen Margrethe II’s Science Award in 2016, the Villum Kann Rasmussen Annual Award in Science and Technology in 2021, the Ernst Haeckel Prize in 2022, and the Carlsberg Foundation Research Prize in 2023. He is a Fellow of the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters and has been recognized as a Highly Cited Researcher.
A groundbreaking Biological Conservation study from Aarhus University shows Europe's forests were historically open mosaics shaped by herbivores, not dense canopies. Implications for biodiversity and policy.
Aarhus University's paleoecological study reveals Europe's dense forests as recent, advocating woodland-grassland mosaics for true restoration.
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