Researching sustainability internationally: To California for the bachelor thesis

While writing her bachelor's thesis, RPTU student Sarah Albert is in California. There, she is investigating how water scarcity is changing viticulture in one of the most important wine-growing regions in the world. Here she reports on what she gained from her stay abroad - and why it's worth looking beyond your own campus.

An open data set from the California Department of Water Resources, a map with wine regions - and the dry hills of California outside the window: this is what Sarah Albert's everyday life looks like while she is researching her Bachelor's thesis in the San Francisco Bay Area. The Bachelor of Education geography student is writing about viticulture and water scarcity in California. The region is one of the most important wine producers in the world and at the same time has been struggling with falling groundwater levels for decades - a topic that Sarah Albert cannot let go of.

Thinking about scientific and social issues together

Sarah Albert decided to study geography in Landau because the subject combines scientific and social issues. "It's always about different aspects: the ecological processes, the social effects and the political decisions that are associated with them," she explains.

Early on in her studies, Sarah Albert realized that she not only wanted to understand how ecosystems work, but also why political decisions are difficult when it comes to resources. She found the right environment for this at RPTU - also with regard to her desire to study abroad.

RPTU professor supervises her from Germany

Prof. Dr. Hermann Jungkunst, head of the Geoecology & Physical Geography working group at RPTU, is supervising her research project from Germany: "Professor Jungkunst's professional supervision was the foundation of my work and the prerequisite for my research in California," she says. "Even though I was thousands of kilometers away, I always had a reliable contact person. That gave me security."

California as a laboratory for sustainability research

California is an ideal research location for her research question. The US state is one of the largest wine producers in the world and is also characterized by decades of drought. "California suffers from chronic water shortages and is also one of the most important wine regions in the world," says Sarah Albert. "This makes the state a real laboratory for sustainable resource management issues."

"California suffers from chronic water shortages and is also one of the most important wine regions in the world. This makes the state a real laboratory for questions of sustainable resource management," explains Sarah Albert on the background to her research work.

At the heart of her analysis is a surprising finding: technical efficiency alone does not solve the problem. Drip irrigation and precise irrigation control can save water on individual farms. However, at the level of entire groundwater basins, this does not automatically lead to lower overall consumption - a phenomenon with political consequences.

This is precisely why California introduced binding upper limits for groundwater extraction for the first time in 2014 with the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act. Since then, regions have had to prove that their groundwater resources remain stable in the long term. This means far-reaching changes for the wine industry: "It's no longer just about irrigating more efficiently," says Sarah Albert. "The companies have to fundamentally consider which areas they can still cultivate at all."

Climate change is omnipresent

Her everyday life in California is characterized by intensive literature work, the analysis of political documents and the evaluation of official data. At the same time, she experiences the topic of her bachelor's thesis not only on screen: "Water scarcity is not a purely academic topic here. People talk about it - in the news, in politics and in everyday life," she says.

She was impressed by the openness with which sustainability and climate change are discussed in California. In addition to her research, she uses the time to explore the landscape: Coastal regions, dry inland valleys and the vineyards of Napa Valley - albeit often from a distance. For the geography student, this is more than just tourism: "My stay in California has changed my view of geographical contexts once again," she says.

Research in an international context

What particularly surprised Sarah Albert in California: How closely science, authorities and agricultural practice are interlinked. Studies are not only produced for research purposes, but are also directly incorporated into political decisions.

At the same time, regulation is highly decentralized: Each region develops its own sustainability plans, which leads to different approaches to solutions. For Sarah Albert, this opens up a new perspective - not just on California, but on the fundamental question of how societies deal with scarce resources.

Tips for your stay abroad

Anyone planning a research-related stay abroad should start early, advises Sarah Albert. Above all, a clearly defined topic is crucial: "A precise project gives the stay structure and also convinces the supervisors."

"Anyone planning a research-related stay abroad should start early. A precise project gives structure to the stay and also convinces the supervisors," recommends Sarah Albert

Support is provided by the International Affairs Office at RPTU, which helps with administrative and organizational issues. Programs such as DAAD scholarships or other funding opportunities are available for financing - depending on the project and destination country.

Sarah Albert submitted her Bachelor's thesis in February 2026. Her stay in California deepened her interest in environmental policy issues and showed her that ecology, politics and economics need to be considered together in practice.

What she takes with her from California cannot be captured in a study plan: the view of global connections, the confidence in her own initiative and the special opportunity to research a topic exactly where it is negotiated in society - an experience that no seminar can replace.