Roman Spiegelsberger joined the Hohenheim Research Center for Food Security and Ecosystems (GFE) as a program officer in 2021. He started his academic career by obtaining a bachelor degree in Engineering and Management at the Munich University of Applied Science. To fulfil his desire to contribute to a sustainable future he changed his professional field and studied Natural Resources Management and Ecological Engineering (NARMEE) at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna. He specialised in sustainable resource use in the agrarian sector, specifically in the tropics and subtropics. His thesis combined natural science and social science by evaluating the motivation of pastoralists towards different options for acquiring animal feed to reduce the resource-related conflict in the Kerio Valley, Kenya. During the process of his thesis, Roman was part of ICRISAT in Nairobi and the Institute of Development Research in Vienna where he gained his first experience in working with international research institutes.

Roman has a strong orientation towards an international environment. He had the privilege to study at the Thammasat University, Bangkok, the Lincoln University, New Zealand and cooperate with the Egerton University, Kenya.

At GFE, Roman's function is mainly to coordinate the Africa-related research. Furthermore, he takes part in the acquisition of fonds, for example for the upcoming Horizon Europe – Cluster Six calls, and in the management of ongoing projects.