2008 - present
Full professor of Human and Economic Geography (W3), Department of Geography, University of Cologne

2003 - 2007
Full professor of Human Geography (C4), Department of Geography, University of Bamberg

2002 - 2003
University professor of Economic Geography (fixed-term contract) (C3), Faculty of Economics, University of Mannheim

1995 - 2002
Assistant professor (C1), Department of Geography, University of Bonn

1992 - 1995
Senior Research fellow, Department of Geography, University of Bonn

2001
Habilitation, University of Bonn

1994
PhD, University of Bonn

• Economic geography
• Industrial and urban change
• Environmental and risk management
• Environmental and social impacts of globalization
• Economic and social aspects of natural hazards
• Southern Asia, Australia, Western Europe

2022 - present
Chairman of the Association for Geography at German-speaking Universities and Research Facilities (VGDH)

2021 - present
Speaker of the sientific council 317 (Geography) of the German Research Foundation

2012 - present
Editorial Board, book series “KOALAS”

2008 - present

Editorial Board, journal “Zeitschrift für Australien-Studien“

2008 - present
Editorial Board, book series “Kölner Geographische Abhandlungen“

2003 - present
Editorial Board, book series “Wirtschaftsgeographie”

2003 - present
Guest editor of several special issues of academic journals, co-editor of several edited books

Description:
Adaptation to coastal flooding and storm surges is a major challenge for the low lying coastal areas of Indonesia. The situation is further aggravated by land subsidence rates up to 15 cm/yr in some areas of Jakarta and Semarang. In this situation, research on adaptation and coping processes towards past, current, and future coastal hazards and sea level rise is crucial to understand socio-economic impacts and adaptive responses of coastal communities and individual households. 

This project is based on the central hypothesis, that translocally anchored social capital plays a key role for building adaptive capacity. Through processes of migration and trans-local networking, people establish social interactions and networks of trust that link coastal rural areas to regional urban centres, megacities, and foreign localities. Through these networks, individuals and communities have access to remittances, loans, mutual help, information, and knowhow that may become valuable resources for community resilience and innovative adaptation (fig. 1). 

The project aims to decipher the relations between translocally organised social capital, rural-urban interactions, and adaptive capacity. The goal is to analyse how the (translocal) social capital of coastal communities is structured and how it enables the endowed people to cope with short-term hazards (e.g. cyclones and floods) as well as to adapt to the slowly emerging and less perceivable sea level rise. 

Support: 
DFG (SPP 1889)

Duration: 
2016 - 2019

Description: 

The project deals with the actors of re-Islamisation, their involvement in translocal networks, their aims and activities and their relation to the state.

Region: Asia

Department: Institute for Geography

Link: www.geographie.uni-koeln.de

Research Area: Natural Commodities and Changing Markets in the Global South

Period: 2011-01 to 2015-12

Person(s): Boris Braun

Region: Asia

Department: Institute for Geography

Link: www.geographie.uni-koeln.de

Research Area: Natural Commodities and Changing Markets in the Global South

Period: 2013-01

Person(s): Boris Braun; Amelie Bernzen