Projects of YAS
Our Projects
Transregional dimensions of energy transition
International and cross-cutting perspectives on how and in what way commodity chains, infrastructures, policies, and projects reconfigure power asymmetries and inequalities of energy transitions.
An international conference was held in June 2022 (interview with the organizers [German only]), a special issue is in preparation.
Project team:
Benjamin Schuetze, Dr. Hussam Hussein
& Thilo Wiertz
Agent-based model on land cover “Sustainable and Natural Hazard Resilient Regions”
Build first steps to establish a decision support framework to enable the development of sustainable and resilient regions by addressing environmental risks, adaptation/mitigation, vulnerability/resilience, and sustainability innovations.
Project team:
Corinna Köpke & Sahani Pathiraja
Global Debates on Biological and Linguistic Diversity
Investigating the causal impact of European empires on the relationship between biodiversity and linguistic diversity through the combined analysis of historical sources and official documents of international organizations.
Project team:
Matthias Kranke & Javier Francisco
Sustainability discourses in international organizations
Examining what and how leading international organizations define sustainability in their official documents via a mixed-methods approach (quantitative text and discourse analysis as well as qualitative content analysis).
Project team:
Thilo Wiertz & Matthias Kranke
H2info: Formation of hydrogen markets
Demonstrate the role that green hydrogen can play in reducing CO2 emissions in Germany by setting up a website that allows users to create and explore scenarios (e.g. in different sectors).
Project team:
Thilo Wiertz, Benjamin Schuetze & Severin Vierrath
Politics of legal processes
A critical, multidisciplinary examination of the growing influence of legal elements in contemporary socio-environmental interactions, the spread of environmental legal norms across multiple governance levels, and the specific role of courts and the legal system in socio-environmental conflicts. An international workshop took place in 2023; a special issue is planned for 2025.
Project team:
Cristina Espinosa & Rike Sinder
Water resilience building
Study on contextual environmental knowledge about water to understand whether and to what extent increased environmental knowledge is associated with a change in practice, for example, to better respond to emerging water disasters such as floods.
Project team:
Corinna Köpke & Luisa Cortesi
Red kite
Monograph on the conflict between species conservation and climate protection using the example of (the protection/death of) red kites and the establishment of wind power stations from a legal and cultural anthropological perspective.
Project team:
Sarah May & Rike Sinder
Post-growth in textbooks
Analysis of how the issue of post-growth is framed and expressed in high school textbooks in three different countries (Germany, Ecuador, and Jordan).
Project team:
Cristina Espinosa, Hussam Hussein & Matthias Kranke
Imagining Future Forests in the Anthropocene
Investigation of political imaginaries about forests through a multi-scalar lens, focusing on regional and global imaginaries of future forests.
Project team:
Matthias Kranke & Ida Wallin
Modelling socio-ecological colonial trajectories
Simulation study on the historical development of plantation economies in the Caribbean in the 16th-18th centuries.
Project team:
Javier Francisco & Sahani Pathiraja
Graphic Novel “Welt im Wandel – Fünf Stories zur Umweltkrise”
Creation of a graphic novel with 5 plots on the environmental crisis. The stories are set in the past, present, and future. The aim is to create easy access to the topic, especially for pupils.
Publication: Welt im Wandel – Fünf Stories zur Umweltkrise.
Project team:
Sarah May, Ida Wallin, Cristina Espinosa, Matthias Kranke & Javier Francisco & Lea Breitsprecher
YAS Podcast
Two seasons published via Podigee:
1st season: YAS (6 episodes)
2nd season: Agri-Photovoltaik (5 episodes)
Project team:
Javier Francisco (host)
Exploring greenspace as an extreme heat adaption strategy
Exploring when and how inhabitants use green space in their daily lives, their motivations for doing so, and if green spaces are being used as a way to adapt to extreme heat events. Five German cities were selected as case studies, and data was collected using a survey.
Publications: Extreme heat experience influences public support for local climate adaptation policies in Germany & Assessing public attitudes towards urban green spaces as a heat adaptation strategy: Insights from Germany.
Project team:
Rita Sousa-Silva & Chad Zanocco
Political Economy of an undermined energy transition
Analysis of the situation and geopolitical role of the energy transition in Jordan.
Publication: Geopolitical economy of an undermined energy transition: The case of Jordan.
Project team:
Benjamin Schuetze & Hussam Hussein
Sustainability partnerships with the MENA
Application for a DAAD-funded partnership network to bring together research institutions, civil society organizations, think tanks, and public institutions active in the wider field of renewable energies and sustainability. Sustainability partnerships with the MENA (Middle East and North Africa).
Project team:
Benjamin Schuetze & Hussam Hussein
Discourses and materialities of Jordanian climate change governance
Develop a better understanding of the interaction of different discursive framings and material manifestations of Jordanian climate change governance both in Jordan and abroad, most notably at COP28.
Summary of the workshop at COP 28 & Recording of the workshop are available.
Project team:
Hussam Hussein & Benjamin Schuetze
Energy supply security in German parliamentary and legal discourse
Examination of the evolving history of energy supply security in the Federal Republic of Germany based on an analysis of parliamentary speeches, documents, and legislation.
Publications: Energieversorgungssicherheit (in Neue Zeitschrift für Verwaltungsrecht, 2023:8) & The Role of Crises in Shifting German Energy Geopolitics.
Project team:
Rike Sinder & Thilo Wiertz
Risk of Morocco’s green hydrogen plans
Publication: Risk of Morocco’s green hydrogen plans.
Project team:
Hussam Hussein & Benjamin Schütze