Green Research Network
Building Climate Resilience for a Vital Environment (BRaVE): Identification of Vulnerabilities, Indicators and Implications for Actions
Interdisciplinary research network of the Centre for Climate Resilience
GOAL AND APPROACH
The aim of the Green Research Network Building Climate Resilience for a Vital Environment (BRaVE): Identification of Vulnerabilities, Indicators and Implications for Actions is to develop interdisciplinary methods to identify climate-related vulnerabilities and to derive quantitative and/or qualitative indicators for the early identification of risks. This will be used to develop sustainable solutions to mitigate these risks.
The figure illustrates the general approach to be taken in three steps. In the first step (inner circle), the various risks to be addressed will be identified, e. g., through a standardised analysis of the literature. In the second step (middle circle), related vulnerabilities will be quantified or qualitatively described to derive the relevant indicators. In the third step (outer circle), risk and vulnerability indicators will be applied to case studies. The extent to which the methods and indicators can be used for the early identification of risks in practice will also be analysed. Based on this, corresponding measures (actions) will be derived. The added value of the interdisciplinary Green Research Network lies in the fact that the methods and indicators can be transferred and adapted to different disciplines.
The application and evaluation of the developed methods can be tested using:
- a spatially and temporally delimited socio-economic system in the sense of a ‘real-world laboratory’,
- analysis of empirical data,
- quantification of the effects of the measures through model-based evaluation and planning models based on real data.
Finally, application-orientated recommendations for action (measures) will be derived, with the aim to develop measures with international applicability.
STRUCTURE, SUB-PROJECTS & SPECIFIC JOB REQUIREMENTS
The Green Research Network comprises 12 sub-projects, each of which will be funded with 0.5 doctoral positions over 3 years from the "Green Transformation" funds of the University of Augsburg. The sub-projects will start in the 3rd quarter of 2024 and will be completed at the end of the 4th quarter of 2027. In the spirit of the required interdisciplinarity, as many disciplines as possible currently involved in the CCR should be represented. In addition to the CCR, other researchers from the University of Augsburg, in particular the Environmental Science Center (WZU) and the Centre for Interdisciplinary Health Research (CIHR), are involved as tandem partners in the supervision of the BRaVE doctoral students. The sub-projects are as follows:
Coordinator:
Prof. Dr. Harald Kunstmann, Chair for Regional Climate and Hydrology (Faculty of Applied Computer Sciences, Institute of Geography)
Tandem-Partners:
Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Buermann, Chair for Physical Geography and Climate Science (Faculty of Applied Computer Sciences, Institute of Geography)
Dr. Christof Lorenz, Dr. Tanja Schober, Rebecca Wiegels, research associates at KIT-Campus Alpin in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, resort S2S
Abstract:
The consecutive dry years of 2018, 2019, 2020 and again in 2022 and 2023 have shown that water shortages are also becoming a challenge in Germany, a country of cool-temperate climate that has had to cope mainly with heavy precipitation and flooding extremes in the past.
Coordinator:
Prof. Dr. Katharina Waha, Climate Resilience of Human-made ecosystems, Head of Chair (Faculty of Applied Computer Sciences, Institute of Geography)
Tandem-Partner:
To build climate resilience, local communities and national governments need to stabilize their ecosystems, both natural and managed ecosystems. The lack of systematic evaluation of past extreme events and their impacts and remaining challenges in representing the major management strategies in global impact models reduces our capacity to assess their usefulness for planning resilient ecosystem management. We will combine satellite data, ecosystem modeling for the entire biosphere and novel climate extreme detection methods to develop an improved understanding of the resilience of different ecosystems and methods for monitoring resilience over larger spatial scales. This project can be integrated with other BRaVE projects focusing on climate, economic or supply risks or other risks in human- managed ecosystems as a first step to understand risks and their implications. The PhD student will be trained in analyses of time series of satellite data, and computer modelling and benefit from expertise of the two main supervisors and integration in their national and international networks, as well as collaboration with PhD students from other disciplines to jointly develop methods for detecting climate risks applied on different scales.
Specific requirements and qualifications for applicants:
- Interest (and possibly knowledge) in programming and working with large, also global geographical and climatological data sets
- Interest (and possibly experience) in processing spatial data with R or Python
- Very good English skills, oral and in writing, including scientific writing
- Demonstrated capacity for timely completion of a high-quality research thesis
Coordinator:
Prof. Dr. Markus Keck, Chair for Urban Climate Resilience (Faculty of Applied Computer Sciences, Institute of Geography)
Tandem-Partner:
Prof. Dr. Peter Fiener, Professorship for Water and Soil Resource Research, (Faculty of Applied Computer Sciences, Institute of Geography)
Abstract:
High birth rates, political instability, and climate change are putting growing pressure on land use in Africa. In this context, smallholder farmers in the East African rift system are increasingly forced to cultivate very steep slopes that must be considered as "critical zones" as they are at risk to collapse in the near future. In this project, we take the eastern slopes of the Rwenzori Mountains in the Albertine Rift in Uganda as a showcase to investigate whether and to what extent it is possible to increase the resilience of this critical zone in order to prevent the collapse of the agricultural systems on steep slopes in this area. By combining perspectives from social and natural science, this interdisciplinary project provides empirical findings on the resilience of steep-slope agriculture in East Africa and serves as a starting point for international research cooperation dealing with the resilience of critical zones worldwide.
Coordinator:
Dr. Andrea Thorenz, Resource Lab of the Institute of Materials Resource Management (Faculty of Mathematics, Natural Sciences, and Materials Engineering)
Tandem-Partners:
Abstract:
Modern society's prosperity is deeply intertwined with a substantial demand for biotic and abiotic materials. This PhD project will examine the impact of climate change on the availability of raw materials. The implications are wide-ranging, from direct supply disruptions to demand increases through decarbonization technologies and climate change adaptation measures.
Coordinator:
Prof. Dr. Maria Backhouse, Chair of Environmental Sociology with a Focus on Socio-Ecological Transformation, Resilience Design and Climate (Faculty of Philosophy and Social Sciences)
Prof. Dr. Jens Soentgen, Environmental Science Centre (Wissenschaftszentrum Umwelt, WZU)
Coordinator:
Prof. Dr. Angela Oels, Chair for Political Science with a specialization in climate politics (Faculty of Philosophy and Social Sciences)
Tandem-Partner:
Prof. Dr. Simone Müller, DFG-Heisenberg Professor for Global Environmental History and Environmental Humanities(Faculty of Philology and History)
- completed Master’s degree in Political Science or International Relations, Human Geography or a related field
- experience with Foucaultian discourse analysis (or related approaches) and/or ethnographic approaches in the M.A. or B.A. thesis or in course work is required (please attach evidence to your application)
- Willingness to live and work up to 6 months in the Caribbean doing fieldwork
- a passion for and excellent knowledge of poststructuralist, feminist or decolonial perspectives in political science
- previous experience with the subject matter of climate change and/ or migration (for example in an internship or in course work) is an advantage
- experience in research management is an advantage
- excellent command of the English language is a requirement
- German language skills are an asset
- International and intercultural experience is an asset
- You are a loyal and committed team-player, capable of independent and critical thinking
- You are willing to relocate to a place in or near Augsburg
Please submit your application in English as a single PDF-file (please reduce the file size to less than 4 MB). Your application should include the following parts (in this order):
- your CV and list of publications/ presentations (if applicable)
- a letter of motivation that describes your qualification for/ interest in the position
- a writing sample proving familiarity with discourse analysis or poststructuralist, decolonial or feminist theories (a publication, course work or your M.A. thesis)
- a reference letter by a senior university lecturer/professor (in English or German) who supports your application (this is mandatory)
- relevant transcript of records, B.A. and M.A. certificates (for MA no later than 01.09.2024)
- references from former employers, including internships
Coordinator:
Prof. Dr. Florian Diekert, Professorship of Environmental Economics (Faculty of Business and Economics)
Tandem-Partner:
Prof. Dr. Harald Kunstmann, Chair for Regional Climate and Hydrology (Faculty of Applied Computer Sciences, Institute of Geography)
Coordinator:
Prof. Dr. Manuel Ostermeier, Professorship of Resilient Operations (Faculty of Business and Economics)
Prof. Dr. Sebastian Schiffels, Professorship of Digital Health & Medical Decision Making (Faculty of Business and Economics)
Outstanding university degree in business informatics, industrial engineering, business mathematics or comparable degree programs with a focus on Operations Research. Very good knowledge of quantitative planning methods in the field of supply chain management, production and/or logistics. In addition, knowledge of applications in healthcare and/or food logistics is desirable. Programming skills (preferably in C++/Java) as well as experience with optimization and simulation software are required, in particular knowledge in the implementation of exact and heuristic solution methods. Experience in Sustainable SCM and/or Operations as well as a good command of German and English are also desirable.
Coordinator:
Coordinator:
- Academic law studies at a university, preferably above average
- Interest in an in-depth academic study of legal issues relating to constitutional and state law, environmental and climate law and legislative theory
- Interest in interdisciplinary work
Coordinator:
Prof. Dr. Sarah Friedrich, Chair for Mathematical Statistics and Artificial Intelligence in Medicine (Institute of Mathematics, Faculty of Mathematics, Natural Sciences, and Materials Engineering)
- Optimise, train and validate our existing air-pollutant forecast with open-access data
- Include new pollen taxa in our pollen forecast, test and optimise its performance in future pollen seasons
- Correlate the forecasted pollen with symptoms of a running allergic rhinitis panel study (2024-2026)
- In collaboration with the UFS “Schneefernerhaus”: Integrate recent findings on pollen long-distance transport and temperature data into the existing pollen forecast
Specific requirements and qualifications for applicants:
- Master’s or equivalent degree in informatics, bioinformatics or medical informatics
- Programming skills in Python, R, C++
- Willingness to learn and adapt methods
- Diligent and organized working style
- Interest in working with medical and environmental data
- Ability to work in a highly interdisciplinary field
- Excellent communication skills (inter-disciplinary and international team)
- Excellent level of English language, both oral and written
- Analytical but also open and creative mind
- Interest in scientific writing and presentation
- A background in the field of modelling environmental data is appreciated, but not a strict requirement
Coordinator:
Prof. Dr. Elke Hertig, Chair for Regional Climate Change and Health (Faculty of Medicine)
CONTACT PERSONS
- Phone: +49 821 598-3948
- Phone: +49 821 598 - 4357
Organisation and Administration: