Vita

Jürgen Scheffran is a professor of integrative geography at the University of Hamburg and head of the Research Group “Climate Change and Security” (CLISEC). He is a Principal Investigator with the Cluster of Excellence “Climate, Climatic Change and Society” (CLICCS) and the Center for Earth System Research and Sustainability (CEN). After completing his studies and earning a PhD in physics at the University of Marburg in 1989, he worked in interdisciplinary research groups on environmental science, peace and conflict studies at the University of Marburg, the Technical University of Darmstadt, the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, the University of Paris (Pantheon Sorbonne) and the University of Illinois in the United States. He has contributed to several projects, initiatives and organisations, including the United Nations, the Technology Assessment Bureau of the German Parliament, the German Committee Future Earth (DKN) and the German government commission “Fachkommission Fluchtursachen”.

Research Profile | Current Projects

Jürgen Scheffran’s research fields include climate security, environmental conflict and human migration, land use, the energy-water-food nexus and rural-urban interaction, complexity and sustainability of human-environment interaction, agent-based modelling and social network analysis of conflict and cooperation, technology assessment, arms control, and international security of new technologies (nuclear weapons, missiles, missile defense, satellites, information and communication systems, neural networks and artificial intelligence, bio- and wind energy). His recent co-edited books include Agent-based Modeling of Environmental Conflict and Cooperation (2019), Migration und Flucht zwischen Klimawandel und Konflikten (Universität Hamburg, 2017), Handbook on Sustainability Transition and Sustainable Peace (2016) and Climate Change, Human Security and Violent Conflict (2012).

Selected Publications

  • Schilling, Janpeter, Elke Hertig, Yves Tramblay, Jürgen Scheffran. 2020.
    Climate change vulnerability, water resources and social implications in North Africa.
    Regional Environmental Change 20 (1): 15. DOI: 10.1007/s10113-020-01597-7.
  • Mach, Katharine J., Caroline M. Kraan, W. Neil Adger, Halvard Buhaug, Marshall Burke, James D. Fearon, Christopher B. Field, Cullen S. Hendrix, Jean-Francois Maystadt, John O′Loughlin, Philip Roessler, Jürgen Scheffran, Kenneth A. Schultz, Nina von Uexkull. 2019.
    Climate as a risk factor for armed conflict.
    Nature 571 (7764): 193-197. DOI: 10.1038/s41586-019-1300-6.
  • Scheffran, Jürgen, Peter Michael Link, Janpeter Schilling. 2019.
    Climate and Conflict in Africa.
    In: Oxford Research Encyclopedia: Climate Science, edited by Hans von Storch. Oxford: Oxford University Press. DOI: 10.1093/acrefore/9780190228620.013.557.
  • Rodriguez Lopez, Juan Miguel, Katja Tielbörger, Cornelia Claus, Christiane Fröhlich, Marc Gramberger, Jürgen Scheffran. 2019.
    A Transdisciplinary Approach to Identifying Transboundary Tipping Points in a Contentious Area: Experiences from across the Jordan River Region.
    Sustainability 11 (4): 1184. DOI: 10.3390/su11041184.
  • Brzoska, Michael, Jürgen Scheffran, Jasmin Kominek, Peter Michael Link, Janpeter Schilling. 2012.
    Climate Change and Violent Conflict.
    Science 336 (6083): 869-871.