Dr. Hanna Helander

Dr. Hanna Helander is Lecturer for Environmental and Sustainability Sciences and works with Dr. Sabine Sané as Course Coordinator for the Major. She has an interdisciplinary background in human-environment interactions from a systems perspective. She is currently also working on bioeconomy monitoring and environmental footprint accounting as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Kassel, Germany. She obtained her Ph.D. at the University of Freiburg where she worked in an interdisciplinary research group on the societal transition to a circular economy. Her MSc is from Uppsala University in Sweden, where she studied civil engineering in socio-technical systems.

• 2022–2025 Postdoctoral researcher at the Centre for Environmental Systems Research, University of Kassel.
• 2017–2022 Researcher at the Chair for Social Transition and Circular Economy, University of Freiburg.
• 2016 Master of Science in Civil Engineering in Sociotechnical Systems, Uppsala University, Sweden.
• 2016 Bachelor of Science in Sociotechnical Systems, Uppsala University, Sweden.

I teach in the LAS Major Environmental and Sustainability Sciences. In my teaching, I often use a flipped classroom approach to encourage reflection, sharing and exchange in the classroom.

Summer semester 2025:

• Environmental Footprint Accounting: Theory, Tools and Methods

In my research I apply a systems perspective to human-environment interactions. Through the lens of socio-ecological systems, I’m looking at the interactions between societal values and discourses, material flows and uses, and their environmental consequences. My main expertise is in environmental footprint accounting of bio-based resources, particularly in relation to industrial food systems. In my current project SYMOBIO 2.0, I focus on national consumption footprints, dietary patterns and ecological limits.

• Beck-O’Brien, M., Bringezu, S., Banse, M., Barrelet, J., Bezama, A., Bösch, B., Brüning, S., Bührlen, B., Cabezas, A., Cyffka, K.F., Dzene, Gordillo Vera, F., I., Helander, H. et al.(2024). Monitoring the German Bioeconomy: Status, performance, trends and implications for sustainable development. Published by the Center for Environmental Systems Research (CESR), University of Kassel, Kassel, doi.org/10.17170/kobra-2024111510679.
• Helander, H., Schnepf, S., Stetter, T., Ferrara, F., Leipold, S. (2024): Convenient solutions, inconvenient truths – Why supermarkets will not drive food system transformation. In Ecological Economics 218, p. 108096. DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2023.108096.
• Leipold, S., Petit-Boix, A., Luo, A., Helander, H., Simoens, M., et al. (2023): Lessons, narratives, and research directions for a sustainable circular economy. In Journal of Industrial Ecology 27 (1), pp. 6–18. DOI: 10.1111/jiec.13346.
• Helander, H., Bruckner, M., Leipold, S., Petit-Boix, A., Bringezu, S. (2021): Eating healthy or wasting less? Reducing resource footprints of food consumption. In Environ. Res. Lett. 16 (5), p. 54033. DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/abe673.
• Helander, H., Petit-Boix, A., Leipold, S., Bringezu, S., (2019): How to monitor environmental pressures of a circular economy. An assessment of indicators. In Journal of Industrial Ecology 139 (3), p. 1011. DOI: 10.1111/jiec.12924.

• Since 2017 Member of the International Society of Industrial Ecology (ISIE)
• Since 2023 Member of SCORAI-Sustainable Consumption Research and Action Initiative
• Ad-hoc reviews for: Journal of Industrial Ecology, Ecological Economics, Nature Food, Environmental Impact Assessment Review
• Since 2023: Co-Editor of www.monitoring-bioeconomy.org