Rafaella Ferraz Ziegert

Education and Academic Experience

• Since 2023
  PhD researcher at the Chair of Forest and Environmental Policy, University of Freiburg, Germany
  Supervisors: Prof. Dr. Daniela Kleinschmit (1st) & Prof. Dr. Jan Börner (2nd)
• 2017-2019
  MSc Environmental Governance, University of Freiburg, Germany
• 2014-2016
  Post-Grad (specialization) Social Psychology, FESPSP-Fundação Escola de Sociologia e Política de São Paulo, Brazil
• 2008-2012
  BA (Honors) Development Studies with French, University of Sussex, United Kingdom
• 2010-2011
  Year abroad studying Political Sciences at Institut d’Études Politiques (Sciences Po Aix-en-Provence), France

Professional Working Experience

• Since 2023
  Stakeholder engagement and project assistant at Bonn.realis
• 2019-2023
  Associate Learning Officer at the United Nations System Staff College (UNSSC), Germany
• 2019
  Sustainable Development Mechanism Intern at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), Germany
• 2018
  Research Intern at Biodiversity International, Malaysia
• 2014-2017
  Social-Economic Analyst at JGP Consultoria Ambiental (Environmental Consultancy Firm), Brazil
• 2013-2014
  Sustainability Analyst at Quintessa Consultoria (Sustainability Consultancy Firm), Brazil

Rafaella’s research focuses particularly on analyzing trade-offs and synergies of forest and agricultural supply chains, international trade policies, and national regulations related to environment and biodiversity conservation in Brazil. These are her topics of interest:

• Global Environmental Governance
• Forest and Land Use Policy
• Sustainable Trade and Supply Chains
• Policy Interaction and Coherence
• Sustainable Development
• Food Security and Systems
• Case study focuses on Brazil and South America

Research Projects

• CLEVER – “Creating leverage to enhance biodiversity outcomes of global biomass trade”. It is a transdisciplinary EU 2021 HORIZON research project (HORIZON-CL6-2021-BIODIV-01-15 Call). In addition to the University of Bonn, which is coordinating the project, eleven other partners from Germany, Austria, the United Kingdom, Spain, Finland, Sweden, Cameroon and Brazil are involved. [2023-2025]
• RAINFOREST – “Co-produced transformative knowledge to accelerate change for biodiversity”. It is a transdisciplinary EU 2022 HORIZON research project (HORIZON-CL6-2022-BIODIV-01-08) [2023-2025]

• 2024
  Class in “What works?” module – Msc Environmental Governance
• 2023 and 2024
  Class in “Forests and Global Change” module – Msc Forest Sciences
• 2023 and 2024
  Class in “Environmental Policy Analysis” module – Msc Environmental Governance

• Oliveira, G. M., Ziegert, R. F., Pacheco, A., Berning, L., Sotirov, M., Dürr, J., Braun, D., Nunes, F. S. M., Soares-Filho, B. S., & Börner, J. (2024). Blind spots in the EU’s Regulation on Deforestation-free products. Nature Ecology & Evolution, 8, 1382-1383. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-024-02465-x
• Ziegert, R. F., & Sotirov, M. (2024). Regulatory politics and hybrid governance: The case of Brazil’s Amazon Soy Moratorium. Global Environmental Change, 88, 102916. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2024.102916
• Kleinschmit, D., Arts, B. J. M., Assembe-Mvondo, S., Burns, S. L., Böcher, M., Brockhaus, M., Cordova-Pineda, D. A., Giurca, A., Gordeeva, E., Maryudi, A., Sotirov, M., Sufo Kankeu, R., Winkel, G., & Ziegert, R. F. (2024). International forest governance for the future: From criticism to alternatives. In D. Kleinschmit, C. Wildburger, N. Grima, & B. Fisher (Eds.), International forest governance: A critical review of trends, drawbacks, and new approaches (pp. 119-145). IUFRO World Series Vol. 43. https://www.iufro.org/media/fileadmin/publications/world-series/ws43.pdf
• Jalonen, R., Ziegert, R. F., Lamers, H. A. H., & Hegde, N. (2022). From Within and Without: Gender, Agency and Sustainable Management of Non-Timber Forest Products in Two Indian States. Small-Scale Forestry, 22, 323-349. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11842-022-09531-x
• Kleinschmit, D., Ziegert, R. F., & Walther, L. (2021). Framing Illegal Logging and Its Governance Responses in Brazil – A Structured Review of Diagnosis and Prognosis. Frontiers in Forests and Global Change, 4. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/ffgc.2021.624072

Project reports (non-peer-reviewed)

• Cramm, M., Schulz, D., Wunder, S., Uwiringiyimana, H., Berning, L., Ziegert, R. F., & Sotirov, M. (2025). Deliverable 5.3: Actor-specific leverage points for transformative change. Zenodo. https://zenodo.org/records/14906038
• Berning, L., Ziegert, R. F., Cramm, M., & Sotirov, M. (2023). Map of public and private policies and governance mechanisms. Final report. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8328016

• 2019-2020
  Recipient of the Carlo Schmid Programme, from the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), for internship at the United Nations
• 2017-2019
  Recipient of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) scholarship for Master’s in Environmental Governance at the University of Freiburg

Interview by EFI, as part of the CLEVER project