Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL
Function
GIS specialist
Group
Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL
Zürcherstrasse 111
8903 Birmensdorf
Site
WSL Birmensdorf Bi HL D 21
Diploma in Geography (Department of Geography, University of Zurich)
Technical Specialist II, Profile III in Forest and Soil Ecology
Forest Ecosystem Processes Group
GIS development, spatial modelling, visualisations – ArcGIS Pro (ESRI Switzerland), Quantum GIS (QGIS)
Use of geodatabases: ArcSDE/SDO, ST_GEOMETRY, PostgreSQL/PostGIS
GIS tasks within the LWF:
Working on and contributing to scientific projects (e.g. Global Litter Decomposition Study – Tea Composition)
Databases: PostgreSQL/PostGIS/ORACLE
Metadata
Other responsibilities
Web editor for the Forest and Soil Ecology Research Unit, the LWF research programme, and the SwissForestLab and TriNational ForestLab networks, using the Typo3 CMS.
Documentation using GitLab.
Education
1976 – 1985
| Primary school, Thusis/GR |
| 1985 – 1990 | Graubünden Teacher Training College, Chur |
| October 1990 – March 1997 | Studied for a degree in Geography at the University of Zurich, majoring in Geography with a specialisation in Glaciology, Geographical Information Science and Geology. Dissertation: Investigation of vents in the snowpack of the Murtèl block glacier on the Corvatsch (under Prof. Dr R. Weibel and Prof. Dr W. Haeberli) |
Further training
| 4–5 and 11–12 June 1998 | Introduction to Form Builder (FB-A), Trivadis, Basel |
| 24–25 August 1998 | Advanced UNIX course, IT Services, ETH Zurich |
| 7–9 September 1998 | Database Technology, Department of Computer Science, ETH Zurich |
| 26 April – 27 April 1999 | Oracle 8i, Technical Information Seminar, Trivadis, Zurich Airport |
| 24–26 January 2000 | Introduction to PL/SQL (PL/SQL-A), Trivadis, Zurich |
| Summer Term 2000 | Design and Development of Software Systems with Java. Prof. Dr D. Gruntz, ETH Zurich |
| August 2000 | Effective Scientific Writing; WSL |
| 28 February – 2 March 2001 | Oracle Forms for Advanced Users (FB-B), Trivadis, Zurich |
| 7–9 March 2001 | Object-Oriented Programming with Java, ETH Zurich |
| 24 September – 19 October 2001 | Language study trip, Edinburgh School of English, Edinburgh |
| Winter semester 2001/2002 | Introduction to Programming (including practical sessions), Prof. Dr H. Schauer, University of Zurich |
| Summer Term 2002 | Programming practical, Prof. Dr H. Schauer, University of Zurich |
| 16–18 October 2002 | Databases and Web Technology (JWEB), Trivadis, Zurich |
| 21 March 2003 | Software Development under Unix/GNU Linux, ETH Zurich |
| 7 February 2003 | Scripting for Java, CMS for Developers, Internet Expo, Zurich |
| 9–10 October 2003 | Database-oriented applications (TC-DB_A), Techno Circle, Trivadis, Zurich |
| Summer Semester 2004 | Software Practical Course 2004, Prof. Dr M. Glinz, University of Zurich |
| Winter Semester 2006/2007 | Continuing Education Certificate Course in Spatial Information Systems, Prof. Dr A. Grün, ETH Zurich |
Work experience before and during my studies
| 04/91 | Temporary post as a primary school teacher, Opfikon |
| 08/92 – 05/95 | 30% position in data homogenisation and data validation at TELEDATA AG, Zurich |
| 04/94 – 05/94 | Locum secondary school teacher of Geography at the Graubünden Teacher Training College, Chur |
| 06/95 – 03/98 | 20% position in front and back office roles at the Zurich Legal Advice Centre for Asylum Seekers, Zurich |
Employment following graduation
| May 1997 – June 1997 | Full-time placement as a trainee at the Graubünden Teacher Training College, Chur, under Herbert Strohbach |
| 06/1997 – 12/1997 | 80% position as an intern at the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL), Geoinformatics, Landscape Division - Application development of a GIS user interface for generating maps using Swiss national coordinates (Easy Map) - Compilation of documentation with illustrative examples for the Digital Chart of the World |
| 02/1998 – 12/2003 | Full-time position as a research assistant at the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL), Department of Forest Ecosystems and Ecological Risks, Forest Division |
| 01/2004 – 12/2006 | 80% position as a research assistant at the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL), Department of Forest Ecosystems and Ecological Risks, Forest Division - Research and development in the field of data and information management (LWF). - Development of databases and GIS services with web connectivity |
| Since 01/2007 | 80% position as a systems specialist (Level 3)/software engineer at the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL), Forest Ecosystem Processes Research Unit, Forest Ecosystem Modelling Research Group (MWO) - Spatial modelling, GIS services, geodatabases - Development of software solutions with database and web integration |
| Since February 2024 | 10% position as Web Manager for the SwissForestLab platform at the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL) |
IT expertise
- Analysis and design of applications in the fields of databases, GIS and the internet
- Data modelling
- Web publishing
Programming languages: SQL, PL/SQL, Java, Python, HTML, AML
Additional skills
Languages: Danish, English, Italian, French