Rethinking Environment: The Environmental Humanities and the Ecological Transformation of Society

Climate catastrophe, the sixth great extinction and other massive environmental changes are overwhelmingly the result of human activity. Societies worldwide are already impacted by their effects. However, human activity may also be key for positive change. Inter- and transdisciplinary in scope and method, the Environmental Humanities help to “rethink environment” on a local, and culturally specific level, but also on global scale to build a more sustainable relationship with our planet.

The International Doctorate Program at a glance

DegreePhD
Duration of studyFour Years
Place of studyAugsburg, Munich (LMU)
Admission requirementsMaster's degree in one of the participating or a related field. Fast track candidates can also apply.
LanguageEnglish, German
Application deadlineCurrently no call for applications
HeadProf. Dr. Simone M. Müller (Augsburg)
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Sonja Dümpelmann (Munich)
CoordinatorPD Dr. Kirsten Twelbeck
Contact the coordinator
Further informationWebsite "Rethinking Environment"

Socio-ecological transformation and the humanities

The International Doctorate Program "Rethinking Environment", funded by the Elite Network of Bavaria, qualifies doctoral students from the humanities and the social sciences to contribute inter- and transdisciplinary perspectives to a debate commonly associated with the natural sciences.


Individual projects range from a history of the relationship between bees and humans to integrating urban ecology and environmental education for informal public transport systems in South Africa. They examine alter/native [sic!] oceanic contexts in speculative fiction and investigate the effectiveness of the tools and strategies used in education for sustainable development in a school context.

Portrait Prof. Dr. Simone Müller

To address the ecological challenges of our time, the program creates a space for encounters and exchange beyond the boundaries of academic discipline.

Prof. Dr. Simone M. Müller

By working across disciplinary and methodological borders, the program trains doctoral students to approach environmental topics from academically innovative angles.

Snippets of the program

Artist Workshop: Rethinking Forests

The workshop combined digital media, art, and climate protection. Following a walk with PhD student Pia Wimmer, artist Eva-Maria López introduced her app "paper-trees." The work­shop con­cluded with a panel discussion on urban green­ing.

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The participants creatively work with the materials collected during the forest walk.

Inspiring experiences at the Schneefernerhaus

Rethinking Environment doctoral student Anne-Sophie Balzer has captured the special atmosphere of Germany's highest environmental research station in a poem.

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Snippets of the research

Picturing Snowflakes

Floris Winckel explores the flaky history of snow crystal science across four centuries for his doctoral project.

Technology and Humans

The first article of Maximilian Pieper's cumulative dissertation he compares in the context on debates over the Anthropocene the concept of technology as an extension of human capabilities with the concept of technology as a fetish.

Fictions of Resource Extraction

In her doctoral thesis Lakshmi Chithra Dilipkumar analyses novels from the Global South to reveal the social and affective imaginaries of extractivism and its eco-social impact.