DGFC Visitors: Meet Ben & Lale

Lale

My name is Lale and I am a Geography and Meteorology student from the University of Hamburg and I am now doing one year abroad in Malaysia, consisting of one semester at UMS and then a four month internship here at DGFC. I am really interested in climate change because it combines a lot of different scientific fields together which is why I came here, to include some biology and forestry science into my studies that has so far focused on geography. I want to implement it as forests play a major part in combatting climate change. I found out about DGFC through a website from my home university as other students came here before. I really liked the Regrow Borneo project and thought it would be a good idea to come here and see how reforestation can be done, what the effects of reforestation are, as well as getting an image of oil palm plantations and their impacts on the environment and biodiversity. I like how DGFC is in the middle of it all, how we can look at both oil palm plantations and reforestation. It also made me really interested in getting an insight on how research is done as I could imagine going into research one day! I also came here because I want to grow as a person, getting out of the funk of reading and studying and having that opportunity to do hands on work, even when it’s not exactly in my field. I really love the boat rides here, going out in the morning and diving into the forest, into nature, is something I love, as well as being a part of multiple research projects. 

Unfortunately during my PhD, the pandemic prevented me from visiting, so I have come here now to see what it is like! I came here primarily to see the Regrow Borneo site but also to get a taste of how some of the practical fieldwork is done, not just with Regrow Borneo but with the field centre as a whole as some of the writing I have done for my PhD involved the tough, difficult bits and problems with fieldwork that we have to overcome, so I came here to see what life is like in the field. Before I came here, I was told the food would be excellent and it has lived up to that, I do really enjoy the fish! In terms of highlights so far, I know we are surrounded by amazing forest and animals here, but I have loved getting to know the staff and PTYs at DGFC as well as learning about the projects going on in the field centre!