Prof. Dr. 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 socio-environmental resource systems under uncertainty
- Effects of policy instruments for global food security and for coping with climate risk (such as weather insurances) on socio-environmental systems (SES)
- Adequate representation of human decisions in agent-based models for natural resource use Journal Club
- Advancement of methods related to incorporate cross-scale effects in land use models
- 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
Project Website POLISES - INSURANCEGRASS -Assessment of formal, natural and social insurances: how to cope best with impacts of extreme events on grasslands for sustainable farming systems? (D-A-CH Program, April 2022 – March 2025).
- 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 - February 2022).
- SESYNC Pursuit: Testing and extending Ostrom’s frameworks: quantitative synthesis and modeling of social-ecological dynamics (2017- ongoing)
Finished Projects
- 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)
- 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)
Memberships
- Member of external advisory board of the National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Centre (SESYNC) Annapolis, US (since 2018)
- Member of Editorial Board of open-access journal SESMO – Socio-Environmental Systems Modelling (since 2019)
- Member of Steering Committee of Global Land Program Working Group: “Large-scale Behavioural Models of Land Use Change”
Publications
Latest Publications:
Wind erosion in European agricultural landscapes: More than physics
People Nat. 5 (1), 34 - 44
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A framework for conceptualizing and modeling social-ecological systems for conservation research
Biol. Conserv. 275 , art. 109769
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Typologies of European farmers: approaches, methods and research gaps
Reg. Envir. Chang. 22 (2), art. 43
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Upscaling in socio-environmental systems modelling: Current challenges, promising strategies and insights from ecology
Socio-Environmental Systems Modelling 4 , art. 18112
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Using Bayesian belief networks to investigate farmer behavior and policy interventions for improved nitrogen management
Environ. Manage. 69 (6), 1153 - 1166
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Wikis as collaborative knowledge management tools in socio-environmental modelling studies
Environ. Modell. Softw. 158 , art. 105538
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Improving the design of climate insurance: combining empirical approaches and modelling
Clim. Dev. 14 (9), 804 - 813
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Integrating equity considerations into agent-based modeling: A conceptual framework and practical guidance
JASSS 25 (3), art. 1
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Agricultural insurance through the lens of rural household dietary diversity
Glob. Food Secur. 28 , art. 100485
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Linking model design and application for transdisciplinary approaches in social-ecological systems
Glob. Environ. Change 66 , art. 102201
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How to make socio‐environmental modelling more useful to support policy and management?
People Nat. 3 (3), 560 - 572
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Informal risk-sharing between smallholders may be threatened by formal insurance: Lessons from a stylized agent-based model
PLOS One 16 (3), e0248757
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Ecological and financial strategies provide complementary benefits for smallholder climate resilience: insights from a simulation model
Ecol. Soc. 26 (2), art. 14
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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
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Advancing understanding of natural resource governance: a post-Ostrom research agenda
Curr. Opin. Environ. Sustain. 44 , 26 - 34
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Modelling food security: Bridging the gap between the micro and the macro scale
Glob. Environ. Change 63 , art. 102085
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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
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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
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Resilience trinity: safeguarding ecosystem functioning and services across three different time horizons and decision contexts
Oikos 129 (4), 445 - 456
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Combining social network analysis and agent-based modelling to explore dynamics of human interaction: A review
Socio-Environmental Systems Modelling 2 , art. 16325
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BESTMAP: behavioural, Ecological and Socio-economic Tools for Modelling Agricultural Policy
Research Ideas and Outcomes 6 , e52052
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Full list of publications: Publications