Dr. Josef Kaiser
Research Unit Environment and Society
Department of Urban and Environmental Sociology
Department of Environmental Politics
Helmholtz Centre
for Environmental Research − UFZ
Permoserstr. 15
04318 Leipzig, Germany
Phone: +49 341 6025 4376
josef.kaiser@ufz.de
Research Interests
My research focuses on environmental governance and collective action aimed at achieving successful social-ecological transformations in both urban and rural settings. Specifically, I explore how land-related property regimes, commodification processes, and power structures influence the social and ecological outcomes of environmental policy instruments. My work is grounded in disciplines such as Social-Ecological Systems research, Political Ecology, and Ecological Economics. Currently, I am a postdoctoral researcher in the inter- and transdisciplinary Helmholtz project “Urban Transformations towards Blue-Green Infrastructures”, which seeks to advance urban transformations by developing, planning, and evaluating blue-green infrastructures. My primary focus is on investigating the narratives, conflicts, and potential solutions related to the implementation and effectiveness of these infrastructures in urban environments.
Professional Experience
since 10/2024
Postdoc, Department Urban and Environmental Sociology & Department Environmental Politics, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research – UFZ
since 08/2024
Guest Researcher, Landscape Ecology Lab, Department of Geography, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
04/2023 – 07/2024
Researcher/Postdoc, Landscape Ecology Lab, Department of Geography, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
03/2019 – 04/2024
PhD Candidate, Landscape Ecology Lab, Department of Geography, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
03/2022 – 07/2022
Visiting Scholar, Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University
03/2019 – 09/2020
Employee at netzwerk n e.V., Project „Zukunftsfähige Hochschulen gestalten“
04/2017 – 09/2018
Tutor of the student-driven project tutorial „Green Growth versus Post-Growth”, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
10/2013 – 09/2016
Tutor for the bachelor modules „Statistics I“ und „Introduction into Climatology“, Department of Geography, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
Education
03/2019 – 04/2024
Dissertation, Dr. rer. nat.: „Paying Local Communities for Conservation Efforts. Investigating Collective Payments for Ecosystem Services alongside commodification processes and wicked conservation conflicts”, Department of Geography, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
10/2015 – 01/2019
Master “Global Change Geography”, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
10/2012 – 11/2015
Bachelor in Geography with minor subject Economics, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
Current Projects
Urban Transformations towards Blue-Green Infrastructures (UT-UBGI), Work Package: Policy Narratives and Conflicts
Publications
Christian W., H. Bruelheide, N. Farwig, J. M. Marx, J. Settele (Hrsg.). 2024. Faktencheck Artenvielfalt. Bestandsaufnahme und Perspektiven für den Erhalt der biologischen Vielfalt in Deutschland. Zusammenfassung für die gesellschaftliche Entscheidungsfindung. oekom-Verlag, München. https://doi.org/10.14512/9783987263378
Haase, D., P. Keil, A. Mascarenhas, J. Kaiser, C. Albert, F. Mayer, L. K. Fischer, M. W. Strohbach, M. Egerer, R. Bartz, S. Knapp, S. Kramer-Schadt, T. Straka, B. Rhein, T. Wellmann. 2024. Urbane Räume. In: Wirth, C., H. Bruelheide, N. Farwig, J. M. Marx, J. Settele (Hrsg.). Faktencheck Artenvielfalt. Bestandsaufnahme und Perspektiven für den Erhalt der biologischen Vielfalt in Deutschland. oekom-Verlag, München. https://doi.org/10.14512/9783987263361
Kaiser, J. 2024. Paying Local Communities for Conservation Efforts. Investigating Collective Payments for Ecosystem Services alongside Commodification Processes and Wicked Conservation Conflicts. Dissertation. Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. http://dx.doi.org/10.18452/29060
Kaiser, J., T. Krueger, D. Haase. 2023. Global patterns of collective payments for ecosystem services and their degrees of commodification. Ecological Economics 209. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2023.107816
Kaiser, J., D. Haase, T. Krueger. 2023. Collective payments for ecosystem services: a counterpart of commodification and privatization trends in nature conservation? Ecology and Society 28(1):13. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-13549-280113
Grenzdörffer, S., J. Kaiser, F. Mainz, M. Middendorf. 2022. The diversity of property: a potential for a social-ecological transformation. GAIA - Ecological Perspectives on Science and Society 31(2):77-81. https://doi.org/10.14512/gaia.31.2.3
Kaiser, J., D. Haase, T. Krueger. 2021. Payments for ecosystem services: a review of definitions, the role of spatial scales, and critique. Ecology and Society 26(2):12. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-12307-260212