Researcher in the Department of Media Technology at the University of Applied Sciences, Hamburg and is a PhD candidate at Leuphana University, Lüneburg. She is currently working on the North Sea Region Interreg research project DARKER SKY. The project’s overall aim is to reduce light pollution, thereby increasing biodiversity and ecological connectivity in the North Sea Region. Within the project, Anna’s research focuses on the integration of more-than-human participatory design approaches into planning processes. In her dissertation she applies enactive cognitive science, ecological psychology and posthumanist theories to explore a more environmentally-just approach to lighting in public space.

Country/Region of interest/research focus: Hamburg/Flensburg

Sophie Baban hold a Master’s degree in Environmental and Resource Economics. In her  thesis,  she applied concepts from Ecological Economics to develop a shadow price for biodiversity in order to assess the impacts of illegal elephant trade in Africa and to highlight the resulting ecological and social conflicts.This engagement with global justice issues deepened her understanding of the connections between environmental change, power dynamics, and distributional conflicts.Currently, she work at EKSH in the field of municipal climate protection in Northern Germany. She finds it especially interesting to learn how climate politics are shaped at the regional level in Schleswig-Holstein – and what socially just implications, opportunities, and challenges come with it.

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I’m a human geographer interested in studying the socio-environmental injustices that emerge at different territorial scales in the configuration of food value chains and carbon markets. In particular, I’m interested in learning how coastal communities develop social innovations to respond to climate change scenarios and the global environmental crisis. My research lies at the intersections of Political Ecology, Political Economy, Marine Social Sciences, Maritime Border Studies, and the Uneven Geographies of Development. I have conducted research on fishing value chains involving different marine species (lobsters, tuna, shrimp, and multi-species fisheries) on different coastlines and seas in Mexico and Central America, as well as the implementation of the blue carbon market in mangrove areas on the Mexican coast.

I am very interested in taking knowledge beyond the academic sphere and collaborating with coastal communities in building more equitable governance frameworks to reduce the stark power asymmetries that generate environmental injustices in these territories. Similarly, I believe that collaboration between academia and communities is essential to build knowledge that is more closely aligned with the realities and needs of local coastal populations.

Country/Region of interest/research focus: Caribbean Sea, South Pacific of Mexico, Central American Pacific, Chiapas coast, The Pacific Coastal-Marine Transboundary Region in between Mexico and Guatemala.

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Aspiring environmental researcher/consultant with an inclination in the domain of socio-environmental conflicts and local approaches to sustainability. With an engineering degree in natural resources management and studies in cultural development and sustainable tourism, I have gained professional experience in the field of sustainable community development in south Central America.
Currently, I am studying a master in environmental management and working as an research assistant in the field of political geography in Kiel, Germany.

Country/Region of interest/research focus: Latin America