Dr. Michael Spies

Principal Investigator, HNEE

Michael Spies is a human geographer with broad experience in transdisciplinary human-environmental research. He received his PhD in Geography from Freie Universität Berlin in 2018, focusing on agrarian development in the context of climate change in Northern Pakistan. From 2017–2019, he worked as project coordinator at HNEE, responsible for the project ‘eAGROFORST – Food security and livelihood improvement through agroforestry in Central Asia’. Since 2019, he has been leading the junior research group ‘TRANSECT – Agrarian Transformations and Social Ecological Complexities. Local Bioeconomy Scenarios in Central and South Asia’ at HNEE. In KonKoop, he contributes to Topic Area D ‘Environmental Change and Ecological Resources’.

• Participatory approaches to natural resource management
• Agricultural transformation processes
• Transboundary dimensions of farming systems
• Central Asia and Pakistan

Spies, Michael; Zuberi, Mehwish; Mählis, Madlen, Alff, Henryk (et al). Towards a participatory systems approach to managing complex bioeconomy interventions in the agrarian sector. In: Sustainable Producation and Consumption, 31 (2022), 3, pp. 557-568

Spies, Michael; Schick, Axel; Zikriyokhon; Bakokhoja, Bobozoda (et al). Adapting a Participatory and Ecosystem-Based Assessment Impacted by the Pandemic. Lessons Learned With Farmers in Tajikistan. In: Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems, 5 (2021), pp. 1-15

Spies, Michael, Alff, Henryk. Pfadabhängigkeiten in der Bioökonomie überwinden? Landwirtschaftliche Intensivierungsprozesse aus sozial-ökologischer Perspektive. In: Peripherie- politik, ökonomie, kultur, 40 (2020), 2, pp. 334-359