My Academic Work

I am a psychologist and I am intrigued by what people think and feel about "nature" - or rather: about their fellow world. Our fellow world: that is the entirety of human, animal, and plant individuals with which we share the living spaces of this earth, as well as the totality of the natural processes and systems with which we are entwined.

Human-animal relations are particularly dear to me. In my doctoral thesis, I have found that challenging interactions of humans and wildlife, such as wolves, ultimately raise deepgoing questions about what it means to be human. No wonder that seemingly factual issues carry so much emotional charge! My doctoral project received the Research Award of the German Wildlife Foundation.
My academic curiosity also covers synaesthesia research, environmental ethics, and the philosophy of mind, particularly the conditions and possibilities of transspecies encounters.

As newly knighted Doctor of Sciences and guest researcher at the Swiss Federal Research Institute for Forest, Snow, and Landscape Research WSL, I work on a book project that composes a comprehensive picture from all the assembled as well as the yet unpublished insights.

Publications

Humans and Wildlife

• Jürgens, U.M. (2023). "We got responsibility!" - Heaven and Hell in Human-Animal Relations" - Himmel und Hölle in Mensch-Tier-Beziehungen. Religion.ch.


• Jürgens, U.M., Grinko, M., Szameitat, A., Hieber, L., Fischbach, R. & Hunziker, M. (2023). Managing Wolves is Managing Narratives: Views of Wolves and Nature Shape People’s Proposals for Navigating Human-Wolf Relations. Human Ecology. 51, 35–57.


• Jürgens, U.M., Hackett, P.M., Hunziker, M. & Patt, A. (2022). Wolves, Crows, Spiders, and People: A Qualitative Study Yielding a Three-Layer Framework for Understanding Human–Wildlife Relations. Diversity. 14(8):591.


• Jürgens, U.M. (2022). “I am Wolf, I Rule!”- Attributing Intentions to Animals in Human-Wildlife Interactions. Frontiers in Conservation Science. 3:803074.


• Jürgens, U.M. & Hackett, P. (2021). Wolves, Crows, and Spiders: An eclectic Literature Review inspires a Model explaining Humans’ similar Reactions to ecologically different Wildlife. Frontiers in Environmental Science, section Conservation and Restoration Ecology.


• Jürgens, U.M. & Hackett, P. (2017). The Big Bad Wolf: The Formation of a Stereotype. Ecopsychology, 9(1), 33-34.


• Jürgens, U.M. & Koop, B. (2017). Should Northern Ravens be hunted? No! Written comment in hunters' journal "JÄGER" 10/2017, page 18.


• Jürgens, U.M. (2016). Achim und die Saatkrähen oder Menschen in der Mitwelt – Ein bedeutsames Urteil. NABU Kreisverband Verden e.V. Mitteilungen 2016, 32-37.

Crossing human− other-than-human boundaries

• Jürgens, U.M. (2021). Returning to source - explaining the human relation to forests. Psychologie Heute. 9/2021.


• Jürgens, U.M. (2018). Human and nonhuman Animals: Equals in Uniqueness. Animal Sentience2018.23(2).


• Jürgens, U.M. (2017). How human-animal relations are realized: From Respective Realities to Merging Minds. Ethics & the Environment, 22(2), 25-58. [This essay was published 2017 by Indiana University Press in Ethics & the Environment, 22(2), pages 25-58. No part of it may be reproduced,stored in a retrievalsystem,transmitted,or distributed in any form,by any means,electronic,mechanical,photographic,or otherwise,without the prior permission of Indiana University Press. For education reuse,please contact the Copyright Clearance Center. For all other permissions,contact IU Press here].


• Jürgens, U.M. (2016). Menschen, Tiere: Individuen jenseits der Projektionen. Gasteditorial. TIERethik, 8. Jahrgang 2016(2). 7-12.


• Jürgens, U.M. (2016). Universal Modes of Awareness? A „pre-reflective“ Premise. Animal Sentience2016.116.


• Jürgens, U.M. (2016). An Animal – Many Persons? Animal Personhood in face of the Modularity of Mind. International Journal of Social Science Studies, 4(9)19-26.


• Jürgens, U.M. (2016). Begegnungen - Wie treten wir mit Tieren in Beziehung? Tierärztliche Umschau. 6/ 2016. 224-229. (Manuskript auf Anfrage)

Animal Rights and Environmental Ethics

• Jürgens, U.M. (2023). Rethinking instead of removing wild animals: Why human-wildlife coexistence is a valuable exercise. Carte Blanche for SCNAT, April 4.,2023.


• Jürgens, U.M. (2014). Compassionate Coexistence: Personizing the Land in Aldo Leopold’s Land Ethic. Journal of Evolution and Technology, 24(2), Special Issue “Personhood Beyond the Human”.


• Jürgens, U.M. (2014). Discovering The ghosts in our Machine- a Reflective Review. Sage Magazine.

Synästhesia and Ideasthesia

• Jürgens, U.M. & Nikolic, D. (2014). Synaesthesia as an Ideasthesia – cognitive implications. In: Synesthesia – Learning and Creativity. Edited by J. Sinha. Synaisthesis: Luxembourg.


• Rothen, N., Nikolic, D., Jürgens, U.M., Mroczko-Wasowicz, A., Cock, J. & Meier, B.(2013). Psychophysiological evidence for the genuineness of swimming-style-colour synaesthesia. Consciousness and Cognition, 22 (1), 35-46.


• Jürgens, U.M. & Nikolic, D. (2012). Ideasthesia: Conceptual processes assign similar colours to similar shapes. Translational Neurscience, 3(1), 22-27.


• Nikolic, D., Jürgens, U.M., Rothen, N., Meier, B. & Morczko, A. (2011) Swimming-style synesthesia. Cortex, 47(7):874-879.


• Nikolic, D. & Jürgens, U.M. (2011) Sinfonie in Rot. Gehirn & Geist, 6/2011: 58-63.

Methods

• Hackett, P. M.W., Schwarzenbach, J.B. & Jürgens, U.M. (2016). Consumer Psychology: A Study Guide to Qualitative Research Methods. Leverkusen: Barbara Budrich Publishers.

Interviews

(a selection)

• "And then they got out of our control", magazine natur, February 2024, "Nature without borders". View issue.


• Lion let lose - Humans and Wildlife: from fascination to fear, Deutschlandfunk Kultur, July 21, 2023. Listen.


• Interview for RTL-West Pedestrians attacked by crows RTL-West, 10.5.2023. Watch.


• What makes crows special? Interview for SWR1, May 5, 2023. Listen.


• What are crows actually thinking about us? Interview by Mathias Plüss for DAS MAGAZIN. March 4, 2023. Read.


• This is why we feel frightened in the forest Podcast "Peter und der Wald" with Peter Wohlleben. 2.11.2021. Listen.


• "Wolves are not dangerous for humans" Interview by Gudrun Trautmann for "Südkurier". 20.3.2021. Read.


• Conflicts between rooks and people: Couples therapy needed. Interview by Markus Hofmann for the online-journal "Die Flugbegleiter". Read.


• Learning from the pandemic - Can humans and nature find common ground? Discussion on radio SWR2 SWR2-Forum, Host: Gregor Papsch. broadcasted May 27, and November 16, 2020. Listen.


• The Big Bad Wolf Episode 2 of Podcast "On the green fence", Deutsche Welle, Neil King and Gabriel Borrud. September 1, 2019. Listen.


• Why crows are fascinating Discussion on radio SWR2 SWR2-Forum, Host: Gregor Papsch. December 7, 2018. Listen.


• Close to the pulse of nature. Interviewed by Eva-Maria Träger, Psychologie heute. Published September, 12, 2018


• They are back! Wolves in Germany Discussion on radio SWR2 "Forum", Host: Gregor Papsch. November 15, 2017. Listen.


• Humans and Wolves Interviewed by Manuela Dessau-Schumacher, radio SWR4, November 15, 2017.


• We must discuss our nature-related values! Interviewed by Susanne Gilg, Badische-Zeitung. Published October 11, 2017.


• Humans' fear of wolves Interviewed by Justus Randt, Weser-Kurier. Published in the Dossier „Der Wolf kommt“ April 29, 2017.


• Things we can't control frighen us. Interviewed by Nadja Armbrust, National Geographic Deutschland. Published Deceber 1, 2015.


• A different perspective on "Problem Birds". Interviewed by Ralf Wendt for Radio Corax. Broadcasted January 16, 2015.


• Ideasthesia. Interviewed by Anna Corves for dasGehirn.info. Published Februar 28, 2012.


• Recent developments in synaesthesia reasearch. Interviewed by Arvid Leyh for Braincast.. Published Juli 5, 2011.

Presentations

(a selection)

• (Co-)existential questions: How wild animals make us revisit human nature, September 2023, Denzlinger Wildtierforum.


• Fascinating and provocating: Corvids viewed by psychology. October 2021 for ProNatura Center Eichholz, Bern, Switzerland.


• Animals and Language. February 2017 for Entresol, Zürich.


• Bad Wolf, Good Wolf: Why an animal touches us so deeply. January 2016 for den Naturschutzbund Deutschland auf der Wolfsbotschafterkonferenz, Berlin.


• Human-Wildlife Relations: From Conflict to Coexistence. July 2015 for KORA – Koordinierte Forschungsprojekte zur Erhaltung und zum Management der Raubtiere in der Schweiz, Bern.


• Grapheme colour synaesthesia: Similar shapes take similar colours. March 2010, UK Synaesthesia Association conference, Brighton.