Teaching & Outreach

Our teaching activities focus on ecological theory as well as statistics, data science, machine learning and simulation models in ecology and evolution. The following is a list of our courses and lectures (one is currently not offered); outreach (blog, videos, podcast and media) is at the end of the page.

Lectures for the BSc Biology (Grundvorlesungen)

• Vorlesung 54103: Allgemeine Biologie II – Ökologie, 2. Semester [GRIPS]
• Vorlesung 54133: Statistik und Bioinformatik, 5. Semester [GRIPS / lecture notes]
• Praktikum 54128: Evolutionsbiologie und Molekulare Ökologie, WPP 4. Semester [GRIPS]

Specialised lectures for BSc / MSc / PhD level

• Seminar 54374: Theoretische Ökologie [more details / GRIPS]
• Blockkurs 54371: Introduction to Statistics and Data Science with R [GRIPS / lecture notes]
• Blockkurs 54375: Advanced Regression Models in R [GRIPS / lecture notes]
• Blockkurs 54379: Machine Learning and Deep Learning with R [GRIPS / lecture notes]
• Blockkurs 54378: Introduction to Bayesian Statistics [GRIPS / lecture notes]
• Blockkurs 54376: Evolutionary Game Theory (currently not regularly offered)
• Blockkurs 54370: Research Skills [GRIPS / lecture notes]

Dates for the courses taught in a given semester are in our course catalogue. Course materials on GRIPS, the university’s learning platform, require a University of Regensburg login.

Open teaching materials

Course material developed in the open and freely available online (licences as stated on each resource). Most block-course notes are published as full online books and are written to stand on their own, so they are usable well beyond the courses themselves:

• Introduction to Data Science with R
• Applied Regression Analysis for Empirical Research: Inference, Causality, and Model Choice with GLMMs in R
• Machine Learning and Deep Learning with R
• Introduction to Bayesian Statistics with R
• Grundlagen der Statistik — lecture notes for the BSc statistics course (PDF, German)
• ResearchSkills — lecture notes for the research skills course (LaTeX source)
• EGT — evolutionary game theory models in NetLogo

Internships and qualification theses

Offered by our group — follow the links for details:

• BSc Projektpraktikum / Forschungspraktikum
• BSc-Arbeit
• MSc focus subject Theoretical Ecology — as part of MSc Biology or EEC
• MSc Thesis

I also coordinate the MSc programme Ecology, Evolution & Conservation (EEC) and chair its examination committee.

Outreach and media

• Blog: theoretical ecology — notes from ecology, evolution and statistics, with guest posts.
• Videos: my YouTube channel and that of the Theoretical Ecology group (channel “Theoretical Ecology Lab”).
• Podcast: Bayes in theoretical ecology, episode 54 of Learning Bayesian Statistics with Alexandre Andorra (2022).
• In the media (in German):
  • Clara Lietzmann, „Eine Glaskugel für die Natur: Regensburger Wissenschaftler wollen mit KI Bienen zählen“, Mittelbayerische Zeitung, 26 June 2026 (paywalled) — on the chair’s two new bayklif2 projects using AI to study biodiversity.
  • Christian Schwägerl, „Gleiche Daten, unterschiedliche Resultate: Hat die Ökologie ein Glaubwürdigkeitsproblem?“, RiffReporter, 16 April 2025 — on many-analyst studies in ecology.
  • Christian Schwägerl, „Insektenmonitoring: Jeder will langfristige und umfassende Daten, aber keiner will sie erheben“, RiffReporter, 19 March 2025 — on insect monitoring.