Christian Corral is an Expert (R2) at Leibniz Univeristy Hannover.
What is your role in the consortium, and what does your organisation specifically bring to the STICS project?
My role in the consortium is that of researcher. My organisation contributes to the spatial environmental assessment component, addressing the natural, human, and non-human dimensions within the One Health framework.
What have you managed to implement, develop or organise by roughly the midpoint of the STICS project – and what are you most proud of?
By the project midpoint, we have produced several outputs. The first is a book chapter titled “One Health City: A Framework for Evaluating and Envisioning More Ecological and Democratic Urban Futures”, which proposes a method for evaluating cities in relation to more sustainable futures. A second publication presenting the framework for submission to a scientific journal is currently in preparation. We were also invited by the EORC (Earth Observation Cluster) to deliver the lecture “Pathways Towards a Healthy City: A Talk on Urban Health and Spatial Thinking”, presented in Würzburg by Christian Werthmann and me. We have further been invited to the AESOP Young Academics PhD Workshop 2026, to be held 21–25 September, where the work will be presented. The project has additionally provided the opportunity to travel to Bratislava and Vienna for organisational meetings and exchange on the project.
What do you plan to complete and deliver by the end of the project?
Our forthcoming outputs are a research paper presenting the One Health City Index and its application to selected case studies, and a digital tool developed as a QGIS plug-in that enables the application of the Index at a global scale.
How will these outputs affect the target group, and what innovation do they bring?
The work contributes theoretical and scientific innovation through the conceptual framework of the One Health City Framework and Index, and practical innovation through its implementation as an applicable digital tool.
What has the STICS project brought to your organisation – and to you personally?
The project enables international exchange across actors and disciplines, creating a space for the circulation of ideas, and provides funding for research addressing questions of planetary and societal relevance.
What experience have you gained in the project? What would be worth developing further, and what would you do differently next time?
The project has provided organisational experience in multi-partner coordination, communication experience in exchange across disciplines and institutional contexts, and technical experience in developing the Index and its digital tool.
Two aspects merit further development: clearer organisational information from the coordinators regarding budget and deliverables, as we encountered restrictions concerning additional working hours, travel, and conference participation. Next time, we would clarify these administrative conditions at the outset and plan dissemination activities accordingly.
In your view, what is the greatest added value of the STICS project?
The most valuable aspect has been the international exchange with researchers from other disciplinary and institutional perspectives.
What should remain and keep working even after the project ends?
The network of researchers and institutional partners established during the project should be maintained beyond its formal duration, as it provides the basis for future joint proposals and continued exchange.