Dissertation outlines ways to make vertical farming more energy-efficient
Dr Sabine Wittmann, a former long-serving research assistant at the ASC at HSWT, successfully defended her dissertation at the Technical University of Munich on 9 July 2026.
Vertical farming is regarded as a promising approach to resource-efficient food production in cities. In her highly successful dissertation, she investigated the impact of various lighting strategies on energy requirements, productivity and resource efficiency in container-based vertical farming of fruiting vegetables. The findings make an important contribution to the further development of energy-efficient production systems for the Agriculture of the future.
Details of her research
The demand for sustainable solutions for food production is growing. At the same time, energy consumption is one of the greatest challenges in vertical farming. This is precisely where Dr Sabine Wittmann’s research comes in. Her dissertation focused on the question of how lighting strategies can be designed to ensure that plants grow optimally whilst consuming as little energy as possible.
Academic career
The research was carried out within the Joint Academic Partnership for Life Sciences and Green Technologies, as well as within the context of several national research projects on smart indoor farming, the circular economy and resource-efficient agricultural systems at Weihenstephan-Triesdorf University of Applied Sciences (HSWT). For many years, Wittmann, an alumna of the HSWT’s Horticulture degree programme, worked at the HSWT’s Applied Science Centre (ASC) for Smart Indoor Farming. Under the management of Prof. Dr Heike Mempel, she played a key role in research, teaching and development projects there.
Alongside her scientific work, she was actively involved in teaching, provided supervision for final-year dissertations and supported the establishment of the ASC Smart Indoor Farming. Her achievements have been recognised on several occasions, including with distinction for outstanding research, communication and presentation in 2022, when she received the BayWISS Prize.
From July 2025, Dr Sabine Wittmann continued her academic career at the Technical University of Munich as part of Prof. Dr Senthold Asseng’s team. Her dissertation strengthens the scientific basis for the further development of energy- and resource-efficient production systems in Agriculture.
“I found our time together and our collaboration a great pleasure, characterised by many new ideas, inspiration and significant professional enrichment. I am therefore all the more delighted that Sabine Wittmann is remaining connected to this field and is now contributing her expertise at TUM,” says Prof. Dr Heike Mempel, her doctoral supervisor at HSWT.
