Stafflist Research Domain III
Chair of Research Domain III |
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| Ottmar |
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Prof. Dr. Ottmar Edenhofer is deputy director and chief economist at PIK. He is currently leading the research on the Economics of Atmospheric Stabilisation. Within Research Domain III, he explores the impact of induced technological change on mitigation costs and mitigation strategies. He holds the chair "Economics of Climate Change" at the TU Berlin. Ottmar Edenhofer is also director of the newly founded Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change (MCC). |
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Prof. Dr. Anders Levermann is leading the reseach on adaptation strategies in Research Domain III with special focus on climatic impacts on global infrastructure and supply networks. He is professor for the dynamics of the climate system in the Physics Institute of Potsdam University and is heading the flagship activity TUMBLE of Research Domain I on physical tipping elements within the climate system. |
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Vice Chair
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Dr. Elmar Kriegler is a senior scientist at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK). His research focuses on the integrated assessment of climate change, in particular on technological and climate risks of policies to mitigate climate change. |
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Dr. Brigitte Knopf is head of the group Energy Strategies Europe and Germany. One focus of her work is the energy transformation in Germany where she is developing model based scenarios. In addition, her interest is in the electricity market design of the future and the European energy and climate policy. |
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Project coordination & assistance |
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Johann Grüneweg |
Johann Grüneweg is accredited translator and makes sure that our papers, presentations and articles leave the house in a ready-to-print state. |
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Dorothe Ilskens is science coordinator of Research Domain III and responsible for finance, project acquisition and management as well as personnel planning. |
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Personal assistant to Prof. Dr. Ottmar Edenhofer. |
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Management of resources of the research domain III |
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| Susanne Stundner | ![]() |
Susanne Stundner is the Personal Coordinator to Prof. Dr. Ottmar Edenhofer. |
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Researchers |
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Tino Aboumahboub |
Tino Aboumahboub has done her PhD at the Technical University of Munich in power engineering. She is now a post-doctoral researcher at PIK, working on the assessment of climate change mitigation scenarios as part of the LIMITS project. |
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| Nico |
Dr. Nico Bauer finished his PhD thesis on "Carbon Capturing and Sequestration - An Option to Buy Time?" and has now come back to PIK after working with FEEM in Milan, Italy. He is now working on the further development of the model REMIND. |
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Dr. Lavinia Baumstark studied mathematics and economics. Her PhD thesis dealt with endogenous growth, R&D investments and technological spillovers. Currently she is focusing on model development and efficiency improvements of large-scale models of the research domain (e.g. ReMIND). |
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Christoph Bertram studied Physics and is a PhD student at PIK. He works on the representation of energy demand and energy efficiency in coupled macroeconomic and energy system models to evaluate climate change mitigation strategies. |
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Markus Bonsch is a physicist who joined the PIK as a PHD student. He works on the field of landuse / land use change modeling with special respect to water availability and the representation of the water sector in MAgPIE. |
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Dr. Bob Brecha is Professor of Physics and Electro-optics at the University of Dayton in Ohio, USA. His interests are in the intersection of the energy, environmental and economic systems and how these interact in the face of fossil-fuel scarcity and climate change mitigation strategies. He spends time working at PIK during the summer as a guest scientist. |
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| Felix Creutzig |
Dr. Felix Creutzig is a senior research fellow and group leader for Sustainable Human Settlements and Infrastructures in the department Economics of Climate Change at the Technical University Berlin, chaired by Professor Edenhofer. Together with Ottmar Edenhofer, he teaches Geographical Economics and Climate Change. As a postdoctoral fellow at the Berkeley Institute of the Environment, Felix worked with Professor Daniel Kammen, Lee Schipper and Elizabeth Deakin on a variety of transportation issues. |
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Tabaré Arroyo Currás worked at PIK as an energy specialist with particular interest in climate strategies, policies and economics. He performed research on the role of inflexible carbon markets for climate change mitigation pathways. He worked for the AMPERE Project. |
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Dr. Jan Philipp Dietrich studied physics at the University of Potsdam before he joined the PIK land use group of Dr. Hermann Lotze-Campen. His PhD thesis dealt with the efficient treatment of cross scale interactions in land use models. His current research is focussed on efficiency and management of large-scale models. Further research interests are the role and meaning of land use intensity in the agricultural sector, agricultural yield increases due to research & development and the future role and impact of bioenergy production on environment and society. |
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| Christian |
Christian Flachsland is post-doctoral researcher at PIK. His research interests include international climate policy, the design of policy instruments for climate mitigation, game theoretic analysis of climate policy, and the science-policy interface in climate policy. He is speaker of the 'climate policies' flagship activity of PIK research domain Sustainable Solutions. |
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Max Franks has studied Mathematics, Physics, and Economics in Regensburg, Berlin, and Berkeley. As a PhD student in Research Domain III he is involved in the CREW project within the Policy Instruments group. |
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Anastasis Giannousakis studied Chemical Engineering and did postgraduate studies on Numerical Methods and Computer Simulations. He is contributing to the work done at PIK as a Scientific Programmer, helping to optimize the algorithms and solver routines used for the solution of large-scale models (like REMIND) that are developed by the researchers. |
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Godefroy is a PhD student in Research Domain III and works in the ENTRACTE project within the Policy Instruments group. Before joining PIK, Godefroy studied Economics (Maastricht University) and Public Administration / Public Policy (London School of Economics / Hertie School of Governance). |
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Jérôme Hilaire joined the Research Domain III in 2011 as a Post-Doc researcher. His research focuses on the functioning of the Green Paradox under various socio-economic, technology and policy assumptions. Previous work includes the quantification of the impacts of shipping emissions on tropospheric chemistry and climate as well as the modelling of Birch pollen dispersion. |
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Lion Hirth |
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Lion is Ph.D. candidate at PIK. He studied economics and political science in Tübingen, Santiago de Chile, and Amherst, MA. His research focuses on variable renewable electricity sources such as wind and solar power. Research topics include the integration of those generators into power system, integration costs, and the market value of renewables. Most work is based on a high-resolution numerical model of the European integrated power system. Lion also works at the strategy department of Vattenfall GmbH. |
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Florian Humpenöder studied Economics and Sustainable Economics in Berlin and Kassel. As a PhD student he joined the Landuse Modeling group of Research Domain III in December 2011. He works on the analysis of land use change with the MAgPIE model and has a special focus on greenhouse gas emissions, carbon sequestration and biodiversity. |
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Dr. Michael Jakob studied Physics, Economics, and International Relations. His PhD at PIK focused on the role of developing countries in climate policy. His research interest include development issues, international trade, and game theory. Currently, he is in charge of the project 'Entdeken'. |
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Fabian Joas is a doctoral student and guest scientist at PIK. His thesis focuses on greenhouse gas trading and taxation mechanisms which he analyses by applying transaction costs theory. The central question of his work is what can be learned from application of these instruments in industrialized countries, in particular from the EU Emission Trading System (EU ETS), for their application in developing countries. |
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David Klein studied energy engineering at the Technical University of Berlin and is a PhD student at PIK. He works on the linking of energy system and land use models and the advancement of energy system models concerning concentrating solar power plants and biomass fed IGCC power plants. |
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David Klenert studied Physics at the ETH Zurich. He now works as a PhD student in the policy instruments group of RD III on the further development of the intertemporal general equilibrium model P.R.I.D.E. |
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Ulrike Kornek studied Physics at the University in Magdeburg. As a PhD student at PIK she joined the “Policy Instruments Modeling”-group and is interested in modeling cooperative climate policy using game theory. |
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Leimbach |
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Dr. Marian Leimbach works on Integrated assessment of Climate change, Macro-economic modelling, Mathematical programming (with GAMS ) of large-scale systems and Endogenous economic growth and induced technical change. |
| Kai |
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Dr. Kai Lessmann is a post-doctorate researcher at PIK. His research interests include the analysis of incentives for cooperative policy in the context of global public goods, and integrated assessment of climate change with a focus on economics and the choice of policy instruments. He is currently co-heading (with R. Marschinski) PIK’s working group on “Policy Instruments Modeling”. |
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Dr. Gunnar Luderer studied Physics, Atmospheric Sciences and Economics. His activities within research domain III include the analysis of climate policy instruments and integrated concepts of international climate policy. |
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| Robert |
Dr. Robert Marschinski is a Post-Doc researcher. The main focus of his work is on the economic analysis of (climate-) policy instruments, both at the international and national scale. |
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| Jan Minx |
Dr. Jan Minx obtained his doctorate in environmental economics from the University of York. His interests lie in the spatial aspects of climate policy, industrial and urban metabolism and the methodological development and integration of approaches of sustainability assessment. |
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| Ioanna Mouratiadou |
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Ioanna Mouratiadou is a post-doctoral researcher at PIK, working on the assessment of climate change mitigation scenarios as part of the RoSE project. Previous research includes the analysis of climate change impacts and adaptation in Western Africa and the assessment of agricultural and nitrate pollution control policies. |
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Paul Nahmmacher studied engineering and economics in Berlin and Paris. He joined PIK as a PhD student in December 2012 and works on energy system modelling. His research is focused on the long-term transformation of the European and German energy system. He is part of the working group "Energy Strategies Europe and Germany (ESED)". |
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| Michael Pahle |
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Michael Pahle is post-doctoral researcher in the ESEG Group at PIK. His research interests include energy strategies, electricity markets, and low-carbon transition gouvernance. Before returning to PIK in 2012, Michael was Research Associate at the Hertie School of Governance. |
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Nils Petermann |
Nils works as a project coordinator for the research domain Sustainable Solutions. He mainly contributes to the EU project AMPERE dedicated to the analysis of mitigation pathways based on energy-economy-climate model scenarios (www.ampere-project.eu). Previously, Nils worked in the United States on energy efficiency policy advice, technology assessment and consumer education with a focus on windows and building codes. Nils studied American studies and political science at Goethe University in Frankfurt. |
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Robert Pietzcker is a doctoral student at PIK working on the representation of capital inertia in hybrid energy-economic models, focusing on the example of decarbonizing the transport sector. Further research interests are Concentrating Solar Power (CSP), the effect of differing economic damage valuation on climate protection policies, and the modeling of load management and efficiency learning curves in energy models. |
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Franziska Piontek |
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Franziska Piontek is a postdoc at PIK, working on the assessment of impacts and costs of climate change, with a special interest in adaptation measures. She studied Physics at the University of Tübingen and obtained a Master's degree in Astronomy from the University of Maryland, USA. At the Astrophysical Institute Potsdam she wrote her PhD thesis in Astrophysics on the formation of disk galaxies. Franziska also holds a Master's degree in Peace and Security Studies from the University Hamburg, during which she focused especially on climate change and security. |
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Dr. Alexander Popp works in the field of land use, land use change and management. His main research objectives are potential and limitation of bioenergy, avoided deforestation in tropical countries for mitigation and vulnerability of the agricultural sector to climate and land use change. |
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Thomas Präßler is a doctoral student at PIK. His PhD thesis focuses on renewable energy policies and their interplay with carbon markets . He studied Business Administration at ESB Reutlingen and Dublin City University. Before joining PIK, he worked on energy and mitigation related projects with a global consultancy firm. |
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Niklas Roming received his diploma in economics from the University of Hohenheim and is a PhD candidate at PIK. He contributes to the further refinement of modelling macroeconomic relationships in ReMIND. |
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Jacob Schewe is a post-doc at PIK and currently works on the inter-sectoral assessment of impacts of climate change, as well as on non-linear dynamics in the atmosphere and ocean. He studied physics in Berlin, and during his PhD at PIK he investigated mechanisms for monsoon failure in past and future climate. |
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Eva Schmid is a PhD student at PIK. Her research focuses on developing low-carbon energy scenarios for Germany. Before joining the institute, she studied Econometrics (MSc) at the University Maastricht. |
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Anselm Schultes graduated from University of Wuerzburg with a Diplom degree in physics. His work as a PhD student in the macro-economic modelling group revolves around improvements to the representation of the economy in integrated assessment models like REMIND. |
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Dr. Valeria Jana Schwanitz joint the Research Domain "Sustainable Solutions" to work in AMPERE, an EU project with 22 world-wide partners. The project is about the assessment of climate change mitigation pathways and associated cost estimates. Jana has a background in theoretical physics and in environmental economics. |
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Dr. Gregor Schwerhoff studied mathematics in Paris and did his PhD in economics in Bonn. In his Phd he worked on the link between international trade and inflation as well as endogenous growth and resources. He now works on the interaction of trade, growth and climate policy in the group “Macro-economic Modeling”. |
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Iris Staub-Kaminski |
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Iris Staub-Kaminski studied Mathematics, Economics and Finance. As a PhD student in Research Domain III she is involved in the LIMITS project within the Policy Instruments group. |
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Jan Steckel studied economics and engineering with a special regard to energy and environmental management at the University of Flensburg. He is currently writing his doctoral thesis. Among other things he works on possibilities for a sector-based CDM in a post-Kyoto regime and its possible impacts on NIC economies, especially China. |
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Miodrag Stevanovic joined PIK as a PhD student in the Landuse Modeling group. He graduated mathematics at the University of Belgrade and has a master degree in economics from the Autonomous University of Barcelona. His work is focused on assessing climate change damages and mitigation options in the agricultural sector. Currently, he is working on the project Global IQ. |
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Jessica Strefler is a PhD student at PIK. She studied Physics and now works on non-CO2 emissions in energy systems. |
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Falko Ueckerdt studied physics and economics. As a PhD student at PIK he deals with the question of how to integrate fluctuating sources of renewable energy into the power sector of energy systems. |
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Shuwei Zhang |
Dr. Shuwei Zhang joint the Research Domain "Sustainable Solutions" to work in climate mitigation modeling with the support of Humboldt Foundation. A native of China, Shuwei broadly focuses his research on assessing the economic costs and impacts of climate protection and energy conservation policies and new technologies in China. Shuwei has a background in engineering physics and energy system analysis, with expertise on CDM flexible mechanism, dynamics of transport and power sectors and energy use in China, acquired from the previous PhD study and work experience. |
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Anne Zimmer studied Economics before joining PIK at the beginning of 2012. She is a PhD student working in the EntDekEn Project dealing with economic development and poverty alleviation in emerging and developing countries while keeping impacts on the climate as low as possible. Her focus will be on the empirical analysis of coherences. |
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Student assistants |
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Nora Wegener |
Nora Wegener is supporting our administration team. She does literature research for papers, organize meetings and conferences and keeps contacts up to date. |
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Alumni |
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Dr. Hans-Martin Füssel is a guest scientist at PIK. By training he is a systems scientist and applies climate-economy models to assess climate protection strategies under uncertainty. He works at the European Environment Agency in Copenhagen. |
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Prof. Hermann Held, former co-chair of RD III, has been appointed professor at the University of Hamburg and is now a guest at our institute. His research focus is on the uncertainty analysis of climate projections within the context of mitigation strategies. |
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Group "Biofuel as Social Fuel" |
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Wibke Avenhaus studied Landscape Development and Applied System Science at the University of Osnabrück with a focus on modelling environmental systems. She is currently a PhD student working on the construction of a socio-economic model including ecological factors of the region Ribeirao Preto in Brazil to simulate different scenarios and to evaluate them on the basis of criteria of sustainable development. |
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Nico Grasselt works at PIK in Research Domain III. He coordinates the research project "Biofuel as Social Fuel". |
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Felix Kaup |
Felix Kaup is writing his PhD thesis as part of the research project “Biofuel as Social Fuel”. His interests are the development of economic indicators in order to evaluate sustainable economic processes as well as the comparison of different biofuel production technologies by applying opportunity cost theories. He has been working in various small-scale biofuel projects in Latin America and Southern Africa within the last years. |
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Anne Klinnert |
Anne Klinnert is one of the research project student assistants. She finished her studies of Political Science (B.A.) and is currently enrolled in a Master Program in the field of Political Science at the University of Potsdam. Anne’s competences include literature research, writing and text editing. |
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Esther Laabs studied Geography, Economy and Environmental Protection at Philipps-University Marburg. Currently she is a PhD student and her research focuses on social economical and ecological conflicts resulting from biofuel production in Brazil. Her main interests are renewable energies, global value chains and company-networks. |
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Sabrina Mutz studied Cultural Anthropology / European Ethnology and Political Science at Goethe University Frankfurt/Main. Currently she is a PhD student and her research focuses on the economic, political, social and cultural transformations caused by increasing biofuel production - both in local and global ways - based on the case of Brandenburg. |
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Kirsten Selbmann is director of the interdisciplinary research group “biofuel as social fuel”. Her work focuses on the social and ecological impacts of new (risk) technologies. From her academic background she is biochemist, political scientist and science journalist and finished her PhD thesis on political regulation of gene technology. |
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Sandra Venghaus studied Environmental Science and Public Policy at Harvard University with a focus on renewable energies and energy management. She is currently finishing her PhD in the field of marketing and management on alternative automotive fuels and complex system innovations at the Leibniz University of Hannover. As assistant director of the research group, her focus is the socio-economic modelling of the project regions and their interdependency with global developmental dynamics and sustainability. |
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Katrin Wlucka |
Katrin Wlucka is the administrative coordinator of this research project. She supports the team in organization, event management and scheduling as well as public relations. |
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Kerstin Mohr |
Kerstin Mohr is one of the research project student assistants. She studies political science with a focus on international relations at the University of Potsdam. Before joining PIK she worked at the International Labour Organization and the Institute for European Politics. Kerstin is interested in state- and nationbuilding and European climate policy. |
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Research Domain III
at the
Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK)
for visitors:
Telegraphenberg A31
14473 Potsdam
postal address:
Postfach 60 12 03
14412 Potsdam
Germany
Tel.: ++49 331 288 2420 (Research Domain III Office)
Tel.: ++49 331 288 2500 (Reception of PIK)
Fax: ++49 331 288 2570
For generall inquiries please contact Kristiyana Neumann and Nicole Reinhardt in the office.
Internet: www.pik-potsdam.de

































