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…
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…
Back to the (1.5°C) Future: The Potential and Challenges of Carbon Removal The lecture will be delivered in German (Title: Zurück in die (1,5 °C) Zukunft: Potentiale und Herausforderungen von CO₂-Entnahmen) 02.06.2026, 18.00-19.30 HU Berlin, Unter den Linden 6, Senatssaal In 2024, a temperature rise of 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels was recorded for the…
The State in the Anthropocene: The Comparative Politics of Climate Institutions and Climate Policies 26.05.2026, 18.00-19.30 HU Berlin, Unter den Linden 6, Senatssaal Despite the scientific evidence accumulated on the human origins of climate change, and the Paris agreement signed in December 2015 by 196 countries, global public policy addressing climate change seems to fall…
Photo credits: Wiebke Hampel The Grand Challenges Conference of the Berlin University Alliance (BUA), chaired by Prof. Dr. Petra Knaus (FU Berlin), addressed pressing contemporary societal challenges. Several researchers from IRI THESys joined the conference with various contributions. Tobias Krüger was the discussant of Margreet Zwarteveen’s keynote talk who championed the notion of care for…
