Centre for Development and Environment (CDE)

Personen

Prof. Dr. Christoph Oberlack

Member of the Executive Committee | Head of Sustainability Governance Impact Area | Professor at the Department for Social Sciences

Phone
+41 31 684 30 61
E-Mail
christoph.oberlack@unibe.ch
Office
277
Postal Address
Prof. Dr. Christoph Oberlack
Centre for Development and Environment (CDE)
Universität Bern
Mittelstrasse 43
CH-3012 Bern

Research

Areas of professional focus at CDE

  • Sustainability governance, networked governance
  • Institutional analysis of social-ecological systems
  • Archetype analysis in sustainability research
  • Case study synthesis methodologies
  • Land-use change (local to global, telecoupled)
  • Large-scale land acquisitions
  • Climate change adaptation

Projects

  • “Is environmental justice necessary for human well-being? Comparative analysis of certification schemes, inclusive business, and solidarity economy strategies (COMPASS)” (ERC Starting Grant)
  • Governing telecoupled resource systems for environmental justice (research cluster hosted by the Institute of Geography in collaboration with CDE) (completed)
  • Managing telecoupled landscapes
  • African Food, Agriculture, Land and Natural Resource Dynamics, in the context of global agro-food-energy system changes AFGROLAND
  • Theories of change in sustainability science
  • Teaching and education for sustainable development
  • Working group “Archetype analysis in sustainability research” of the Global Land Programme GLP

 

  • Archetypes of Transnational Land Acquisitions: Towards a generalization of case study knowledge for informed soil governance ATLAS (completed)

Field experience

Myanmar, Laos, Kenya, Peru, Switzerland, UNFCCC

Teaching

  • Sustainability Governance Initiatives (Master, seminar, lead with Elke Kellner, University of Bern).
  • Challenges in Geography 1 (Master, lecture and seminar, team teaching and coordination, University of Bern)
  • Handeln für Nachhaltige Entwicklung (Master, seminar, team teaching, University of Bern)
  • Theorie und Empirie: Werkzeuge der Wissenschaft (Bachelor, lecture, team teaching, University of Bern)
  • Interdisciplinary group projects (Bachelor and Master Sustainable Development, resource person, University of Bern)
  • Forum Entwicklung und Umwelt (Master, seminar, team teaching, University of Bern).
  • Political economy of policy reform (Master, tutorial, University of Freiburg (Breisgau))
  • Constitutional economics (Master, tutorial, University of Freiburg (Breisgau))
  • Political economy of land grabbing (Master, seminar, University of Freiburg (Breisgau))
  • Economics, institutions and the environment (Master, lecture, University of Freiburg (Breisgau));
  • Weltwirtschaftsordnung und Global Governance (Bachelor, tutorial, University of Freiburg (Breisgau)).

Languages

English, German, Spanish, French

Publications

Publication Year Type

Oberlack C. (2015). Institutional economics of climate adaptation. Elaborating diagnostic methods for adaptation barriers and opportunities. PhD Thesis, University of Freiburg.

2014

Eisenack K, Moser SC, Hoffmann E, Klein RJT, Oberlack C, Pechan A, Rotter M, Termeer CJAM (2014). Explaining and overcoming barriers to climate change adaptation. Nature Climate Change 4, 867-872.

Oberlack C, Eisenack K. (2014). Alleviating barriers to urban climate change adaptation through international cooperation. Global Environmental Change 24, 349-362.

Oberlack C. (2014). Diagnostic patterns of livelihood impacts of large-scale land acquisitions. Paper presented at the 8th General ECPR Conference, Glasgow, 4-6 September 2014; also presented at the 5th Workshop on the Ostrom Workshop (WOW5), Indiana University, Bloomington, USA, 18-21 June 2014.

Oberlack C, Eisenack K. (2014). Diagnostic patterns of barriers to climate adaptation in water resource systems. Paper presented at the 5th Workshop on the Ostrom Workshop (WOW5), Indiana University, Bloomington, USA, 18-21 June 2014.

2013

Oberlack C, Neumärker B. (2013). A diagnostic approach to the institutional analysis of climate adaptation. Constitutional Economics Network Paper 01-2013. Freiburg, Germany: Univ. Freiburg.

2011

Oberlack C, Neumärker B. (2011). Economics, institutions and adaptation to climate change. Constitutional Economics Network Paper 04-2011. Freiburg, Germany: Univ. Freiburg.