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. Already societies all around the world feel their effects. Simultaneously, human activity may also be key for positive change. Inter- and transdisciplinary in scope and method, the Environmental Humanities help to “rethink environment” both on a local, and culturally specific, but also global scale to build a more sustainable relationship with our planet.

The International Doctorate Program at a glance

The International Doctorate Program “Rethinking Environment“ is hosted by Augsburg University and Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München.

Degree	PhD
Duration of study	Four Years
Place of study	Augsburg, Munich (LMU)
Admission requirements	Master's degree in one of the participating or a related field. Fast track candidates can also apply.
Language	English, German
Application deadline	Currently no call for applications
Head	Prof. Dr. Matthias Schmidt, Prof. Dr. Simone Müller
Coordinator	PD Dr. Kirsten Twelbeck Contact the coordinator
Further information	Website "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, the social sciences, and from economics to contribute inter- and transdisciplinary perspectives to a debate commonly associated with the natural sciences.

Individual projects range from “Glaciers as storied matter” in American poetry to current transformations in the Pamir mountains in Central Asia. They examine how rock drill core samples shape the way we relate to the underground and ask how liberalism poses a limit to rethinking the environment. By working across disciplinary and methodological borders, the program trains doctoral students to approach environmental topics from academically innovative angles.

The program offers an environment for inter- and transdisciplinary thinking and research on pressing issues and thus contributes to the socio-ecological transformation processes that are necessary.

Prof. Dr. Matthias Schmidt

Furthermore, the program builds heavily on cooperation with partner institutions in Germany and worldwide and ultimately aims to train doctoral students so that they can work at the frontier of theory-guided, evidence-based economics, both in the academic and private-sector.

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.

Read the report

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.

Read the report

Snippets of the research

Picturing Snowflakes

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

Abstract 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.

Abstract project

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.

Abstract project