Birgit Müller
Contact
Head of Working Group POLISES (POLicy Instruments and Socio-Environmental Systems under global change)
Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ
Department of Ecological Modelling
Permoserstr. 15
04318 Leipzig
Germany
Building 1, room 2.04
Tel.: +49 341 235-1708
Fax: +49 341 235-3500
birgit.mueller@ufz.de

Research Interests
Use of process-based models for an enhanced understanding and governance of social-ecological systems under global change:
- Exploring dynamics of social-ecological resource systems under uncertainty
- Effects of policy instruments for global food security and for coping with climate risk (such as weather insurances) on social-ecological systems (SES)
- Adequate representation of human decisions in agent-based models for natural resource use Journal Club
- Potential of SES models as tool of thinking and tool for communication in inter- and transdisciplinary research
Current Projects
- POLISES - Global food security policies and
their social-ecological side effects in regions prone to global change Short description
Project Website POLISES - BESTMAP - Behavioural, Ecological and Socio-economic Tools for Modelling Agricultural Policy (September 2019 - August 2023).
- NamTip - Understanding and Managing Desertification Tipping Points in Dryland Social-Ecological Systems – A Namibian Perspective (March 2019 - Februar 2022).
- DFG funded Project SEEMI - "Effects of microinsurance on informal safety nets and on strategies for natural resource use – a model-based analysis" (March 2017 - August 2020)
- SESYNC Pursuit: Testing and extending Ostrom’s frameworks: quantitative synthesis and modeling of social-ecological dynamics (2017- ongoing)
Finished Projects
- Junior Research Group POLISES - Global food security policies and their social-ecological side effects in regions prone to global change (2014-2019) Short description
Project Website POLISES - Collaborative SESYNC-UFZ-IDiv project: Synthesis of micro-scale human decision making to mitigate risks to ecosystem services
- Sustainability of (Post-)Nomadic Resource Utilization Under Global Change - Conceptual Understanding Through Ecological-Economic Modelling (2008-2012)
- Ecological Economics: Modelling and conceptual foundation, with an example of grazing in semi-arid regions (2004-2007)
Publications
Latest Publications:
Agricultural insurance through the lens of rural household dietary diversity
Glob. Food Secur. 28 , art. 100485
full text (doi)
Linking model design and application for transdisciplinary approaches in social-ecological systems
Glob. Environ. Change 66 , art. 102201
full text (doi)
Aligning agent-based modeling with multi-objective land-ese allocation: Identification of policy gaps and feasible pathways to biophysically optimal landscapes
Front. Environ. Sci. 8 , art. 103
full text (doi)
Advancing understanding of natural resource governance: a post-Ostrom research agenda
Curr. Opin. Environ. Sustain. 44 , 26 - 34
full text (doi)
Modelling food security: Bridging the gap between the micro and the macro scale
Glob. Environ. Change 63 , art. 102085
full text (doi)
Spatiotemporal dynamics of ecosystem services provision in a degraded ecosystem: A systematic assessment in the Lake Urmia basin, Iran
Sci. Total Environ. 716 , art. 137100
full text (doi)
Formalising theories of human decision-making for agent-based modelling of social-ecological systems: practical lessons learned and ways forward
Socio-Environmental Systems Modelling 2 , art. 16340
full text (doi)
Resilience trinity: safeguarding ecosystem functioning and services across three different time horizons and decision contexts
Oikos 129 (4), 445 - 456
full text (doi)
Combining social network analysis and agent-based modelling to explore dynamics of human interaction: A review
Socio-Environmental Systems Modelling 2 , art. 16325
full text (doi)
BESTMAP: behavioural, Ecological and Socio-economic Tools for Modelling Agricultural Policy
Research Ideas and Outcomes 6 , e52052
full text (doi)
Implications of behavioral change for the resilience of pastoral systems—Lessons from an agent-based model
Ecol. Complex. 40, Part B , art. 100710
full text (doi)
Polarization in (post)nomadic resource use in Eastern Morocco: insights using a multi-agent simulation model
Reg. Envir. Chang. 19 (2), 489 - 500
full text (doi)
Ecological vulnerability through insurance? Potential unintended consequences of livestock drought insurance
Ecol. Econ. 157 , 357 - 368
full text (doi)
Catalyzing transformations to sustainability in the world's mountains
Earth Future 7 (5), 547 - 557
full text (doi)
An integrated community and ecosystem-based approach to disaster risk reduction in mountain systems
Environ. Sci. Policy 94 , 143 - 152
full text (doi)
The potential of models and modeling for social-ecological systems research: the reference frame ModSES
Ecol. Soc. 24 (1), art. 31
full text (doi)
Representation of decision-making in European agricultural agentbased models
Agric. Syst. 167 , 143 - 160
full text (doi)
Full list of publications: Publications