Niggli Urs

Activity areas

• Director

Training / professional career

• Since 1990: Director of the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL)
• 1985 - 1989: Head of the weed control group at the Swiss Federal Research Station for Fruit-Growing, Viticulture and Horticulture at Wädenswil/Switzerland
• 1980 - 1983: Grassland weed scientists at the Swiss Federal Research Station for Agronomy (FAL) Zurich-Reckenholz
• 1985: PhD Weed Physiology: Technical University of Zurich (ETH)
• 1979: BSc/MSc Agriculture: Technical University of Zurich (ETH)

Teaching

• Since 2010: Honorary professor, University of Kassel Witzenhausen
• Since 2008: Honorary Departmental Fellow in IBERS (Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences, Aberystwyth University).
• Since 2007: Lectures at Kassel University (Witzenhausen, Germany) as Guest Professor:
• Since 2006: Lecturer at ETH Zurich (Case studies in organic farming)
• 1994 - 2005: Lecturer at ETH Zurich (Introduction in Organic Farming; Case Studies in Organic Farming and Integrated Production).

Current honorary appointments and other duties

• Since 2008: Scientific Board of the German Johann Heinrich von Thünen Institute
• Since 2008: Board of Directors of the International Centre for Research in Organic Food Systems (ICROFS)
• Since 2008: Member of the board of the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM).
• Since 2007: Member of the board of the Institute for Organic Agriculture in Luxemburg IBLA. 
• Since 2006: Member of the Advisory Board of the German Institute for Tropical and Subtropical Agriculture (DITSL).
• Since 2004: Academic co-ordinator of the EU-Project QualityLowInputFood  with 30 institutes in 13 countries (18 million €, 6th EU-Framework Programme).
• Since 2004: Deputy president and co-founder of the Bioinstitute at Olomouc University (Czech Republic).
• Since 2004: Deputy president of FiBL Vienna.
• Since 2003: Member of the Senate Commission on Substances and Resources in Agriculture of the German Research Foundation (DFG)
• Since 2002: Member of the board of directors of the inspection and certification company bio.inspecta inc .
• Since 2001: President of FiBL Germany
• Since 1991: Member of the Advisory Commission of the Crop Science Department of the ETH Zürich.

Past appointments

• January 2006: Expert for the Accreditation of the master course „Organic Food Chain Management“ at Stuttgart-Hohenheim University.
• 2004 - 2008: Member of the Management Boards of the EU-ERAnets CORE ORGANIC, which co-ordinates the scientific co-operation between 11 European countries (www.coreorganic.org ).
• 2003 - 2008: Deputy president and co-founder of the International Society of Organic Agriculture Research (ISOFAR) .
• 2002 - 2006: Deputy president and co-founder of the International Research Association for Organic Food Quality and Health (FQH) .
• 2003 - 2007: Associate editor of the journal “Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems”, CABI-Publishing.
• 2001 - 2005: Member of the board of trustees of the Federal Agricultural Research Centre (FAL) in Braunschweig (Germany).
• 2000: Organiser of the 13th International IFOAM Scientific Conference in Basel, 28 - 31 August.
• 2000: Member of the appointment committee for the director of the Research Institute for Organic Agriculture of the FAL Braunschweig, Germany.
• 1999 - 2005: Trustee of the Research Institute for Vital Quality, Wetzikon/Switzerland
• 1998: Organiser of the First SREN Workshop on Research Methodologies in Organic Farming (FAO) at Frick, 30 September – 3 October.
• 1998: Member of the appointment committee for the chair for organic agriculture at the University of Vienna.
• 1997 - 2001: Member of the Swiss Federal Commission for Bio Safety.
• 1997 - 2000: Member of the scientific committee of ITADA in Colmar, France (trinational research programme on sustainable agriculture in France, Germany, Switzerland, INTERREG-Program).
• 1995 - 2004: Several peer review activities of organic farming research schemes in UK (MAFF, DEFRA) in Denmark (DARCOF: DIAS and KVL), in Austria (University of Vienna) and in Germany (Federal Agricultural Research Centre) .
• 1990 - 1993: Member of the Commission «Nitrate in food» of the Swiss Federal Office for Health.
• 1990: Co-organiser of the first FAO expert consultation on biological agriculture in Europe in Bern, May 1990.