Since 2015, the IRI THESys has been awarding prizes for excellent Bachelor and Master theses in the field of human-environmental research. Now, all bachelor and master graduates of HU Berlin are again invited to apply for our THESys Award! Applications can be submitted during the application period from 15 September to 15 November 2023. Who…
Photo credits: Jelena Große-Bley successfully defended her PhD thesis, Unfamiliar Uncertainties: How experts grapple with socio-material relations to adapt to climate change in China’s agriculture. Jelena’s dissertation shows that in times of climate change, unfamiliar uncertainties started to enter ways in which different ecologies of expertise were grappling with relating to sky. Four empirical chapters…
Timothy Moss, together with eight co-authors, received the Best Published Paper Award 2026 of the Association of European Schools of Planning (AESOP). Congratulations!
Melanie Schweikart, Leonardo R. Ramírez, Ina Säumel, Balancing growth and conservation: Land-use policy scenarios for Uruguay’s grasslands, Land Use Policy, Volume 169, 2026, 108110, ISSN 0264-8377
On 18 June, Humboldt University celebrated not only its current Deutschlandstipendium scholarship holders and sponsors in the ballroom on Luisenstraße, but also an anniversary: For 15 years, the scholarship has been supporting committed students with 300 euros a month for at least two semesters. Photo: Nadine Zilliges A big thank you goes to the…
Josephine Lang and Lilli Johanna Schlünz (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin) receive the Berlin Award for Excellence in Teaching 2026 (‘Landeslehrpreis Berlin 2026‘) for the ‘Studium Oecologicum’ at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. The award ceremony will take place on 1 July 2026 at the Berliner Hochschule für Technik. The Studium Oecologicum (StudOec) addresses socio-ecological transformations of our time.…
Mechanisms driving effective urban climate action This lecture takes place as an internal event at IRI THESys. 17 July from 1 – 3 pm.
Photo credits: Cristián Flores Fernández successfully defended his PhD thesis, Lithium, Green Hydrogen and the contested dynamics of green frontiers-making in Chile. Cristián’s dissertation examines how Chile’s role as a strategic supplier of lithium and renewable energy for global decarbonization reshapes its territories and political economy. It analyzes how multi-scalar coalitions deploy legal, narrative, and…
Photo credits: Zuneera Shah 2026 Mehwish Zuberi successfully defended her PhD thesis, Navigating Agricultural Transformation Pathways: Dynamics, Possibilities, and Aspirations of Smallholder Farmers in South Punjab, Pakistan. Mehwish‘s dissertation examines agricultural transformation in South Punjab, Pakistan, focusing on smallholder farmers’ lived experiences within productivity-driven policy contexts. She investigates how policies promoting genetically modified and hybrid…
Photo credits: Cordula Kropp Marie Pratzer successfully defended her PhD thesis, Conservation in contested landscapes: considering land-use complexity in tropical dry woodlands. Her PhD examined how simplified perspectives on land and land use overlook real-world complexity, especially in contested regions like the South American dry woodlands. It aims to improve conservation planning by integrating power…
