ISOE - Key Persons
Ahmad Awad has been a research assistant at ISOE since 2023. He finished his master studies from the Technical University of Munich in Sustainable Resource Management and received the degree for his thesis on "Analysis of the spatial-temporal dynamics of land-use changes using a mixed method approach: A case study from Amman, Jordan". He deals with the dynamics behind land-use changes, particularly in urbanized contexts. Previously, he had studied as a civil engineer with a focus on environmental and water subjects at the Jordan University of Science and Technology and worked in infrastructural mega city projects in Saudi Arabia.
Job Titles:
- Human Resources Management
Anna Brietzke is a research scientist at ISOE since 2021. She studied Latin American and Ancient American Studies and English Studies (B.A.) in Bonn and Cultural and Social Anthropology (M.A.) in Marburg. Within her focus areas Environmental Anthropology and Anthropology of Conflict, she is particularly interested in both human-environment relations as well as environmental and resource conflicts. In her master's thesis, Anna Brietzke investigated the role of land (rights) for an indigenous community in Ecuador and to what extent their struggle for land can be characterized as a decolonial practice.
Barbara Birzle-Harder works as a freelance researcher at the Institute, concentrating on mobility and life style analysis, with responsibility for the preparation and execution of empirical research.
Job Titles:
- Accounting
- Internal Services
Birgit Adolf has been working in the main area of finance and personnel administration since May 2023. Her responsibilities include working in the day-to-day financial accounting as well as in administration.
Chantal Krumm is a research assistant at ISOE since June 2023. Chantal studied Human and Environment (B.Sc.) with a focus on Environmental Economics and Environmental Psychology at the University of Koblenz-Landau. She then studied Global Sustainability Science at Leuphana University Lüneburg and Arizona State University. In her master's thesis, she focused on the institutionalization of transdisciplinary sustainability research and empirically investigated the impact as well as the institutionalization of "Transacademic Interface Managers" in transdisciplinary research projects. Previously, Chantal participated in a transdisciplinary international learning laboratory on the relationship between society and forests in the Schorfheide-Chorin Biosphere Reserve.
Christina Trujillo Frede has been working as a research assistant at ISOE since June 2023. She studied Sociology with a focus on Knowledge, Technology, Environment at the Goethe University Frankfurt am Main and at the University of Mannheim. In addition, she completed the Gender Studies Certificate Programme at the Cornelia Goethe Centre of the Goethe University. Her focus was on socio-ecological issues, gender, intersectionality and diversity as well as global justice. In her Master‘s thesis, she examined justice aspects in the expansion of wind power plants in indigenous areas.
Job Titles:
- Administrative Director
- Assistant
- Controlling and Finances
Claudia Sharma is the assistant of the administrative director. Her responsibilities also include institutional controlling, project controlling, acquisition management and liquidity management. After completing her training as a bank clerk, she studied economics at the Universities of Trier and Stirling (Scotland). In 2007 she completed the postgraduate program for capital market experts at the Deutsche Vereinigung für Finanzanalyse und Asset Management.
Responsibilities
Commercial assistance
Institute controlling
Project controlling
Acquisition management
Liquidity management
Since 2016, Danijela Milosevic has been employed as an assistant in Knowledge Communication and Public Relations. Prior to her current tasks she worked as research assistant within the research unit Water Infrastructure and Risk Analyses. She studied ecotrophology (B.Sc.) and environmental sciences (M.Sc.) at the Justus Liebig University of Gießen. In a subsequent correspondence course for journalism she focused on the topics of nutrition and environment.
David Kuhn has been a research scientist at ISOE since 2020. He is a PhD student in the junior research group regulate. In his research he focuses on conflicts, power relations and inequalities in the use and regulation of groundwater.
After studying political science (B.A.) at the Free University of Berlin with a focus on political theory, gender studies and conflict research, he completed the interdisciplinary Master's program in Sustainable Development (M.Sc.) at the University of Utrecht (Netherlands) with a focus on the governance of social-ecological systems. In his master thesis he investigated success factors for transdisciplinary knowledge production in water reuse. At the inter 3 Institute for Resource Management in Berlin, David Kuhn contributed to a practice book on transdisciplinary innovation management.
Job Titles:
- Research Scientist
- Associate Professor at the Department of Social Sciences
Diana Hummel has been a research scientist at ISOE since 2002 and was a member of the institute's executive board from April 2014 to March 2023. Prior to that, she was head of the research unit Biodiversity and People. She is the coordinator for Academic Teaching and Qualification of Young Scientists as well as for ISOE's research program.
Diana Hummel is Associate Professor at the Department of Social Sciences at the Goethe University Frankfurt, Institute of Political Science. She studied education, psychology and social sciences at the University of Frankfurt am Main, where in 1999 she wrote her dissertation on "The Population Discourse. Demographic Knowledge and Political Power." She completed her habilitation at the same department in 2009 on "The Supply of Population - Studies on Population Dynamics and Transformation of Supply Systems."
Job Titles:
- Member of the Executive Board, Head of the Knowledge Processes and Transformations Hub
- Spokesperson
Alexandra Lux has been a research scientist at ISOE since 2000. Since April 2023, she has been a member of the Executive Board and, together with Johanna Kramm, head of the Knowledge Processes and Transformations hub. Previously, she headed the research unit Transdisciplinary Methods and Concepts. She studied economics at the Carl von Ossietzky University Oldenburg. In 2008 she received there her doctorate in the field of infrastructure development for a thesis dealing with public water supply and demographic shrinkage. Alexandra Lux has long-standing experiences in the fields of integrated water research and social-ecological biodiversity research, which are brought together on a conceptual and theoretical in her current work on transdisciplinary integration and knowledge transfer.
Carolin Völker has been a research scientist at ISOE since 2014 and led the SÖF junior research group PlastX together with Johanna Kramm from 2016 to 2021. Carolin Völker is a private lecturer at the Department of Biosciences at the Goethe University Frankfurt am Main, Institute for Ecology, Evolution and Diversity. Her work focuses on the effects of chemical substances on ecosystems, assessment, communication and perception of environmental risks, and systemic approaches to environmental risk assessment. She studied biology at the University of Frankfurt am Main and graduated in 2009 with a diploma in ecotoxicology. Her doctoral thesis was on the topic of "Ecotoxicological characterisation of silver nanoparticles - A contribution to the hazard assessment of nanomaterials". The topic of her habilitation, which she completed in 2022, was "Environmental Impacts of Microplastics: Ecotoxicological Assessment and Systemic Analysis".
Deike Lüdtke has been a research scientist at ISOE since July 2020. In 2019, she completed her doctorate at the Eberhard-Karls University of Tübingen in the field of evolutionary ecology using models and Bayesian statistics to investigate the mating behaviour of Alpine newts. Before that, she studied ecology and conservation at Uppsala University in Sweden and studied the behaviour of the Fennoscandian arctic fox. In addition to the application of model-based and statistical approaches to gain a better understanding of dynamical processes, she took an interest in issues related to the impact of conflicts of interest of various social groups on nature conservation and species protection.
Job Titles:
- Associate
- Research Scientist
- Member of the Institute 's Executive Board
Engelbert Schramm is co-founder of ISOE and was a member of the institute's executive board from 2014 to July 2018. He is responsible for scientific publications and is a member of the research unit Water Infrastructure and Risk Analyses. He studied biology, chemistry and education at the Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main. Engelbert Schramm received his doctorate in 1995 from Darmstadt Technical University, with a thesis on the history of the concept of circulation.
Job Titles:
- Research Scientist
- Head of the Practices and Infrastructures Hub, Head of the Junior Research Group Regulate
Fanny Frick-Trzebitzky has been a research scientist at ISOE since 2018 and has been head of the Practices and Infrastructures hub with Immanuel Stieß since April 2023. Since 2020, she has been leading the junior research group regulate. In her PhD thesis and as a research assistant at the Institute of Geography at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, she investigated institutions and social inequalities in access to water and adaptation to flooding using the example of Accra (Ghana). Prior to this, she worked at the Ecologic Institute in Berlin. In her studies of environmental planning in Munich and London she was focusing on municipal adaptation to climate change, green infrastructure and sustainable urban development.
Florian Schneider has been a research scientist at ISOE since March 2019. In his research work he focuses on the integration of scientific knowledge on biodiversity into social discourses and decision-making processes. From 2015 to 2017 he was scientific secretary of the DFG Senate Commission for Biodiversity Research and scientific assistant at the Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre (SBiK-F) in Frankfurt am Main. Florian Schneider studied biology with a focus on ecology and environmental sciences at the Technical University of Darmstadt, where he earned his doctorate in 2012 on complex ecological networks.
Georg Sunderer works as a freelance researcher at ISOE. He wrote his doctoral thesis on the purchase of fair trade groceries and received his doctorate at the University of Zurich. His dissertation focused on an empirical comparison of action-theoretical explanations. Georg Sunderer studied Sociology at the universities of Trier and Galway (Ireland). His major fields of study were urban and environmental sociology, empirical social research, and social psychology.
Job Titles:
- Head of the Practices and Infrastructures Hub Research Focus Energy
- Member of the Executive Board, Head of the Practices and Infrastructures Hub
Immanuel Stieß has been a research scientist at ISOE since 1999. Since April 2023, he has been a member of the Executive Board and, together with Fanny Frick-Trzebitzky, heads the Practices and Infrastructures hub. Before that, he was head of the research unit Energy and Climate Protection in Everyday Life.
He is a sociologist and planning expert and received his doctorate in Architecture, Urban Planning and Landscape Planning from the University of Kassel, with a thesis on communication with tenants during modernisation processes. His focus is on social-ecological life-style research in construction and housing; nutrition; integration of communication instruments in urban and spatial planning; and indicators of sustainability for social life. Immanuel Stieß has wide experience in both quantitative and qualitative empirical research into social life and the related design of target group oriented communication strategies.
Job Titles:
- Associate
- Member of the Executive Board
- Research Scientist
- Co - Founders
Irmgard Schultz is one of the co-founders of ISOE and was member of the executive board until March 2014. Until she left ISOE at the end of 2014 she was part of the research unit Energy and Climate Protection in Everyday Life. Irmgard Schultz studied Political Science, Philosophy and Literary Criticism at Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main and received her doctorate there in 1992 with a thesis on "The Thrilling Myth of Money: Money and Gender as a Topic in the Age of Ecology."
Job Titles:
- Research Scientist
- Head of the Knowledge Processes and Transformations Hub
Johanna Kramm has been a research scientist at ISOE since 2014 and has been head of the Knowledge Processes and Transformations hub with Alexandra Lux since April 2023. Together with Carolin Völker, she led the SÖF junior research group PlastX from 2016 to 2021. She studied geography, political science and sociology at the University of Bonn and at the University of Bristol and received her PhD from the Department of Geography at the University of Bonn. She works on risk perception and communication of environmental risks such as microplastics, governance of marine litter and waste in the global south, and practices in the consumer and throwaway society.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Associates Board
- Research Scientist
- Head of Research Unit Sustainable Society
- Head of the Research Unit Sustainable Society
- Spokesperson
Jutta Deffner has been a research scientist at ISOE since 2005 and has been head of the research unit Sustainable Society since April 2023. Before, she was head of the research unit Mobility and Urban Spaces. Jutta Deffner did her doctoral thesis at the Technical University of Dortmund, studying styles of non-motorised mobility among urban residents. Prior to her work at ISOE she did research and worked as a planner in Berlin, Stuttgart and Zürich. She studied Regional and Environmental Planning at the University of Kaiserslautern and is a qualified draftswoman.
Job Titles:
- Associate
- Member of the Associates Board
- Research Scientist
Job Titles:
- Head of the Research Unit Biodiversity and People
Job Titles:
- Head of Research Unit Transdisciplinarity
Job Titles:
- Head of Knowledge Communication and Public Relations / Head of Knowledge Communication and Public Relations
Job Titles:
- Head of the Research Unit Water and Land Use, Head of Junior Research Group Regulate
Job Titles:
- Head of the Social - Ecological Systems Hub
Job Titles:
- Associate
- Research Scientist
Job Titles:
- Knowledge Transfer / Knowledge Transfer / 49 69 7076919 - 57
Job Titles:
- Head of the Research Unit Coupled Infrastructures
Job Titles:
- Coordinator for Strategic Consultancy
Dženeta Hodžić has been a research scientist at ISOE since 2020. She is a PhD student in the junior research group regulate where she is working on the social dimensions of unregulated groundwater extraction practices in two European case studies.
Job Titles:
- Administrative Director
- Head
- Member of the Executive Board, Administrative Director
Frank Schindelmann is Administrative Director of ISOE and head of Internal Services. His responsibilities include finances, organisational development and acquisition management. He studied International Economics in Worms.
Responsibilities
Finance
Controlling
Organisational Development
Acquisition Management
Harry Kleespies is head of the department secretariat and publications as part of internal services. After training to be a social security expert he qualified as specialist in the field of media design/desktop publishing. He also holds a degree as Bachelor Professional of Print Media Management (CCI).
Responsibilities
Graphics/Layout
Publications
Web editing
Heide Kerber has been a research scientist at ISOE since 2012. She studied Geography, Political Science and Public law at Julius-Maximilians-University Würzburg. In her master thesis, she analyzed the Basin Management Approach in Namibia and Germany.
Heidi Kemp has been a freelancer at ISOE since May 2023. Prior to that, she worked in the Institute's secretariat for over twenty years. Her tasks include translations as well as editing/proofreading of English texts. Heidi Kemp studied education and English at the University of Bielefeld. She has also completed training as a commercial correspondent.
Job Titles:
- Publications, Layout, Web Editor / 49 69 7076919 - 14
Iris Dresler works in the department secretariat and publications. After studying at the Fachhochschule für Finanzen in Ludwigsburg, she graduated from the university of applied sciences in Mainz with a degree in communication design.
Responsibilities
Graphics/Layout
Publications
Web editing
Jonathan Pillen has been a research scientist at ISOE since January 2022. Before that, he was a scientific assistant at ISOE. He studied economy and culture of China (BA) in Hamburg and Sustainability Science and Policy (MSc) in Maastricht. In his master's thesis he investigated the unsustainable transition towards individual car mobility in the Chinese city of Hangzhou from the perspective of social practices.
Job Titles:
- Research Scientist
- Head of the Social - Ecological Systems Hub Together With Stefan Liehr
- Research Focus
Katja Brinkmann has been a research scientist at ISOE since 2019. Since April 2023, she has been head of the Social-Ecological Systems hub together with Stefan Liehr. She habilitated at the University of Kassel where she was dealing with land-use changes and their effects on ecosystem services and related functions in the tropics and subtropics. Previously, she had studied Forest and Environmental Sciences at the University of Freiburg and had received her PhD for her doctoral thesis on the "Effects of management changes on traditionally used Grassland in the Apuseni Mountains of Romania".
Job Titles:
- Building and Office Services / 49 69 7076919 - 0
Job Titles:
- Deputy Head of Knowledge Communication and Public Relations, Media Relations / Deputy Head of Knowledge Communication and Public Relations, Media Relations
Job Titles:
- Associate
- Co - Founder
- Research Scientist
Egon Becker is a co-founder of ISOE and part of the research unit Transdisciplinary Methods and Concepts. His current research concentrates on methodological issues in social ecology, complexity theory and the philosophy of science. He completed his studies in communications engineering, mathematics, physics, philosophy and sociology at the Technical University in Darmstadt and the Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main. He did his doctoral work in theoretical solid state physics at the Technical University, Darmstadt, then did research work at Yale University, USA and Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main, where he was Professor for the Study of Science and Higher Education from 1972 until his retirement in 2000. Egon Becker held various guest professorships (including, Kassel, Rio de Janeiro, Mexico) between 1984 and 1993.
Flurina Schneider is scientific director of ISOE and professor in social ecology and transdisciplinarity at Goethe University Frankfurt. She is also spokesperson of the Research Activity "Ecosystem Services and Climate" at the Senckenberg - Leibniz Institution for Biodiversity and Earth System Research. Her research focuses on learning and action for sustainability transformations, as well as on transdisciplinary research and science policy for sustainability. She graduated in geography, botany and law at University of Basel, and received her venia docendi by the University of Bern with a habilitation thesis entitled: "Transdisciplinary and Transformative Research for Sustainable Governance of Natural Resources: Towards Intra- and Intergenerational Justice". Until 2020, she served as head of the Land Resources Cluster at the Centre for Development and Environment (CDE), University of Bern, Switzerland.
Job Titles:
- Library, Documentation / 49 69 7076919 - 34
Job Titles:
- Finance and Administration