Grunwald, Michelle - Helmholtz-Centre for Environmental Research

Michelle Grunwald

Doctoral Researcher
Themenbereich Umwelt und Gesellschaft
Department Stadt- und Umweltsoziologie

Helmholtz-Zentrum
für Umweltforschung − UFZ
Permoserstr. 15
04318 Leipzig

M.Sc. Michelle Grunwald (she/her)
Tel.: 0341 -
michelle.grunwald@ufz.de

Research Interests

social-ecological modeling under deep scenario uncertainties
societal transformation and social justice
(im-)mobilities in the context of climate change

Education

from 04/2026

doctoral researcher at UFZ department for urban and environmental sociology, junior research group navigate

01/2025 − 12/2025

postgraduate program: centre for rual development (SLE) - Humboldt University Berlin

10/2021 − 12/2024

M.Sc. Climate, Earth, Water, Sustainability - University of Potsdam

10/2022 − 03/2023

Fellowship: Centre for Climate and Foreign Policy, German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP)

10/2015 − 12/2020

B.Sc. Engineering Science - Technical University Berlin

Current Projects

Junior research group navigate

Integration plattform

Societal Transformations
towards Sustainability

News

Workshop on the governance of CCS

From 1 to 2 June 2026, the Department of Urban and Environmental Sociology hosted a workshop on strategies for the governance of multidimensional risks associated with carbon capture and storage.
learn more

Exploring Possibilities in Digital Laboratories

On October 8–9, the international workshop “Real World Labs versus Solutions – Exploring Possibilities in Digital Laboratories” took place at UFZ. Researchers from six countries discussed real-world labs, digital and playful experimentation, and solution approaches. A summary is now available here.

Mariana Madruga de Brito receives Arne Richter Award 2025

Mariana Madruga de Brito has received the Arne Richter Award for Outstanding Early Career Scientists. With it, the European Geosciences Union honours scientists for their important contributions to the Earth, planetary and space sciences. The awards were celebrated during the EGU General Assembly 2025, which was held from 27 April – 2 May.

more News & Highlights

Publications

Fully revised new edition:
Groß, M.; McGoey, L.: Routledge International Handbook of Ignorance Studies. 2nd edition 2023 (Paperback 2024).

The REGREEN NBS Handbook (2024) "From concept to action for ecosystem restoration & urban resilience" provides a comprehensive overview of the REGREEN project‘s key findings and outcomes, focusing on Nature-based Solutions (NbS) for urban sustainability in Europe and China. The handbook addresses crucial aspects of NbS design, implementation and governance.

Resilience is the concept of the moment. The coronavirus crisis, the flood disaster in the Ahr valley and the energy shortage have put resilience at the top of the political agenda, including in local authorities. The articles in the book "Die Resiliente Stadt. Konzepte, Konflikte, Lösungen" (ed. S. Kabisch, D. Rink, E. Banzhaf 2024) analyse how existing insights lead to action and how knowledge is used. A deeper understanding of the resilient city is developed by analysing different municipal fields of action.

The new Handbook of Environmental Sociology (ed. M. Sonnberger, A. Bleicher, M. Groß) offers a comprehensive and up-to-date overview of the broad research field of nature-society relations. It introduces theoretical and methodological approaches in a national and international context and presents the state of research in various fields of environmental sociology. It also highlights the challenges and opportunities of environmental sociological research in co-operation with other disciplines.

New article online:

Sonnberger, M.; M. Pfeiffer, A. Bleicher, M. Gross (2024): Wake Effects and Temperature Plumes: Coping with Non-Knowledge in the Expansion of Wind and Geothermal Energy. Social Studies of Science 54 (6): 859-882. DOI: 10.1177/03063127241246551.

Current publications