Julia Müller

• Since 2024
  Doctoral Candidate and Research Associate, Chair of Forest and Environmental Policy
• 2023
  Traineeship, European Commission, DG Environment, Section Biodiversity, Unit Land Use & Land Management
• 2020-2022
  Double Degree Master Programme: Environmental Sciences – Soil, Water, and Biodiversity (EnvEuro);
  University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU), Austria & University of Copenhagen (UCPH), Denmark
• 2018-2019
  Erasmus Exchange Programme, KU Leuven, Belgium
• 2016-2020
  B.Sc. Environment and Bioresources Management, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU), Austria

My research centers on change processes, with an emphasis on the grassroots level of policy implementation. In particular, I am interested in how various power mechanisms—operating at the actor, structural, and discursive levels—influence the room for maneuver of different agents and thereby shape both the possible responses to, and the success of, policies. My current work focuses on the management of small-scale private forest holdings, exploring how power mechanisms shape adaptive responses and management practices under changing environmental as well as socio-economic conditions of forest ownership. By analyzing how power is enacted and negotiated at various levels within these contexts, my work aims to illuminate the constraints and opportunities for forest owner governance and to advance understanding of effective policy implementation and sustainable resource management.

Research Design in Environmental Governance, MSc Environmental Governance, UFR

Project Reports

• Häublein, S., Müller, J., Ringier, S., Yunita, S., Schmidt, S., Lindhjem, H., Paul, C. (2025). Small4Good: Motivations and Barriers of Small Forest Owners for Multifunctional Management. Project deliverable.