When trees talk, they talk to Dr. Tanja Sanders: In the Brandenburg forest, there are trees that report daily to the scientist and her 17-member team at the Thünen Institute of Forest Ecosystems how they are doing. One of these trees even published its condition via Twitter for a while. Among other things, methods for electronic data transmission, but also remote sensing via drone and satellite, are being tested at the intensive measurement site in Britz.

Knowing how the forest is doing has become essential in times of climate change. Which tree species are adapting to the changes, and how quickly? Sanders, a geographer and sociologist, has been working on these kinds of questions about forest adaptation for her entire research life. Yet she actually wanted to go into development aid or to work for a newspaper. "I wanted to make a difference either way," she says. Then, however, the trees found her. After graduating, she moved to the United Kingdom to help set up a tree ring lab and begin her doctorate. Since 2011, she has been working at the Thünen Institute for Intensive Forest Monitoring, and since 2018 as the head of the Ecology and Forest Dynamics Unit.

Tanja Sanders has successfully made a career in science, although she has raised her two sons alone for stretches. She takes a critical view of the conditions for this: "Women are qualified enough, but working in science companies is uninteresting, too many business trips, too many evening appointments, too many things to keep in mind at the same time." Most family work still falls on mothers, he said. At the same time, women and careers are a difficult duo. "Women tick differently than men. They rarely actively position themselves for a leadership role," Sanders says. That's why she tries to make men aware not to overlook women and actively motivate them to make career leaps. That's why she also gets involved with young people, she says, imparting knowledge about her research to them, whether live on site or via video chat. Tanja Sanders wants to make a difference, still.