I am a PhD student in the Earth Resilience Science Unit at the Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology and the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. I have a background in Cognitive Science, Environmental Systems Science and Resource Management, and work on understanding transitions to Regenerative Agriculture using a Social-Ecological Systems (SES) lens.
In the scope of my PhD project, I am part of a team conceptualizing and building a novel kind of integrated Social-Ecological/World-Earth model consisting of an agent-based and a dynamic global vegetation model component. In addition to simulation modeling, I use qualitative empirical methods, theoretical and conceptual approaches.
FutureLab / Science Unit
Contact
14412 Potsdam
ORCID
- 05/2024 - today: PhD Student at Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology, Jena, Germany
- 11/2021 - 12/2023 & 05/2024 - today: project researcher at Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Potsdam, Germany
- 10 / 2021 - 04 / 2024: Master's Program "Environmental Systems and Research Management" (with distinction), Specialization in Social-Ecological Systems, Osnabrück University, Osnabrück, Germany. Thesis "From idiosyncrasy to middle-range theory: synthesising knowledge from cross-cultural case studies on transitions to regenerative agriculture" (1.0, supervised by Prof. Dr. Claudia Pahl-Wostl & Prof. Dr. Andreas Focks)
- 10 / 2023 - 11 / 2023: Guest Researcher at Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm, Sweden
- 10 / 2020 - 10 / 2021: Guest Researcher at Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Potsdam, Germany
- 07 / 2019 - 12 / 2019: Exchange Semester at Universidad de Costa Rica, San José, Costa Rica
- 10 / 2017 - 10 / 2021: Bachelor's Program "Cognitive Science", Osnabrück University, Osnabrück, Germany. Thesis "Social Dynamics and Drivers in Decision-Making for Joint Environmental Action: Exploring the Impact of Environmental Movements" (1.0, supervised by Prof. Dr. Ilona Otto & Dr. Annette Hohenberger)
- Farmer decision-making process
- Understanding transformative change in food and land use systems
- Regenerative dynamics and paradigms
- Learning and transformative cognitive systems change in sustainability transformations
- Understanding diversity within transition processes
- Combining simulation modeling, qualitative empirical research, and conceptual work
- Case study work in Costa Rica, the Netherlands, Germany
Peer-review publications
In Review
Schwarz, L., Breier, J., Prawitz, H., Bechthold, M., von Bloh, W., Constantino, S. M., Gerten, D., Heitzig, J., Hotz, R., John, L., Müller, C., Rockström, J., and Donges, J. F.: From Farm to Planet: The InSEEDS World-Earth Model for Simulating Transitions to Regenerative Agriculture, EGUsphere [preprint], https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-4079, 2025.
Breier, J., Schwarz, L., Prawitz, H., von Bloh, W., Müller, C., Wirth, S. B., Bechthold, M., Gerten, D., and Donges, J. F.: copan:LPJmL: A new hybrid modelling framework for dynamic land use and agricultural management, EGUsphere [preprint], https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-4475, 2025.
Published
Schwarz, L., Janssen, C., & Halbe, J. (2025). Pineapple production and visions of regeneration–contrasting Costa Rican (agri) cultural paradigms. Revista Académica Arjé, 8(1), 1-32.
Klein, A., Unverzagt, K., Alba, R., Donges, J. F., Hertz, T., Krueger, T., ..., Schwarz, L., ... & Wijermans, N. (2024). From situated knowledges to situated modelling: a relational framework for simulation modelling. Ecosystems and people, 20(1), 2361706.
Martin, M. A., Boakye, E. A., Boyd, E., Broadgate, W., Bustamante, M., Canadell, J. G., ..., Schwarz, L., ... & Zhao, Z. J. (2022). Ten new insights in climate science 2022. Global Sustainability, 5, e20.
Presentations and Reports
Schwarz, L. & Donges, J.F. (2025). Why regenerative farming needs social change. Blogpost contributing to the Earth4All Initiative's outreach. https://earth4all.life/views/why-regenerative-farming-needs-social-change/
Schwarz, L., Breier, J., Prawitz, H., Constantino, S., Bechthold, M., Gerten, D., ... & Donges, J. (2025). Investigating transitions to regenerative agriculture using the InSEEDS World-Earth model–foundations, first results, and research directions. Oral presentation, EGU25, Vienna (EGU25-19136).
Breier, J., Müller, C., Schwarz, L., Prawitz, H., von Bloh, W., Bechthold, M., ... & Donges, J. (2025). copan: LPJmL: A new hybrid DGVM-based modeling framework for dynamic land use and agricultural management. Oral presentation, EGU25, Vienna (No. EGU25-19244).
Breier, J., Schwarz, L., Prawitz, H., von Bloh, W., Müller, C., Constantino, S., ... & Bechthold, M. (2024). Modeling Resilient Land Use in the Anthropocene: Integrating Global Biogeophysical and Social Systems with the InSEEDS Model. Oral presentation, AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts, Washington D.C. (Vol. 2024, pp. GC01-8).
Schwarz, L., Breier, J., Donges, J., and Rockström, J. (2024). Exploring the transformation to regenerative agricultural systems using empirical case studies and a coupled social-ecological model. Poster presentation, Social Simulations Conference 2024, Cracow
Schwarz, L. & Prawitz, H. (2024). Multi-Level Transformation Towards Regenerative (Agri-)culture. Symposium co-organization and oral presentation, PECS-3: Pathways to Sustainability Conference, Montreal
Tuninetti, M., Giordano, V., Constantino, S., Perri, S., Rocha, J., Schwarz, L., ... & Levin, S. (2024). Positive Tipping Points in the Food Systems: the Role of Scales. Oral presentation, EGU25, in EGU General Assembly Conference Abstracts (p. 22274).
Schwarz, L. (2024). Modeling Resilient Land Use in the Anthropocene: Integrating Global Biogeophysical and Social Systems with the InSEEDS Model. Oral presentation, Earth Resilience Sustainability Initiative, Critical Transitions in Social-Ecological Systems Workshop, Stockholm
Schwarz, L. & Donges, J (2023). Exploring the transformation to more regenerative agricultural systems using empirical case studies and a coupled social-ecological model. Oral presentation, European Conference on Ecological Modeling, Leipzig
Breier, J., Schwarz, L., Donges, J. F., Gerten, D., & Rockström, J. (2023). Regenerative agriculture for food security and ecological resilience: illustrating global biophysical and social spreading potentials. EARTH4ALL: DEEP-DIVE PAPER, 13.
Schwarz, L. (2023). Towards understanding the transition to regenerative (agri-)cultural systems - an integrated social-ecological modeling approach. Oral presentation at LOOPS-4 workshop, Stockholm
Schwarz, L. (2023) Systems Modeling to Foster Understanding of the Transition to Regenerative Agriculture - a Mulit-Level Criticality Perspective. Oral presentation, Earth Resilience Sustainability Initiative, Critical Transitions in Social-Ecological Systems Workshop, Princeton
- 2024: Kapp-Prize for Ecological Economics, Association of Ecological Economics Germany, prize for excellent Master's / PhD Thesis
- 2021: Thinkathon "Humanity in a Changing Climate", 2500€ granted by Sievert Stiftung für Wissenschaft und Kultur
- 2021: Early Career Prize for best presentation at WE-Heraeus-Seminar on "Interacting Tipping Elements in the Natural and Social Components of the Earth System"
- 2021: Poster prize at "Cognition and Climate" online Summer School on "Challenges of Climate Change", hosted by the Institute of Cognitive Sciences, Université du Québec à Montréal, Canada
