Benedikt Walker and Dr. Linus Kalvelage (university of Cologne) have won the 2024 JOEG Early Career Researcher Paper Prize for their study of Germany’s extraterritorial role in Namibia’s green hydrogen industry. Their paper reveals how states use de-risking, asset creation and market-building to steer global production networks, even in liberal economies. We warmly congratulate them on this prestigious award.

Dr. Alexandr Nováček, Assistant Professor at the Department of Human Geography and Regional Development at our ERASMUS+ partner University in Ostrava (Czech Republic), visited our Department from May 20 to 22, 2025. His connection to Bonn dates back to his ERASMUS stay at GIUB in 2014. 

Between April and May, Prof. Dr. Nir Orion and Dr. Ariel Meroz put Earth Systems Education into practice: students began with a Melbtal field excursion to frame geological questions, deepened their inquiry through hands-on lab experiments, debated “Climate crisis or educational crisis?” in the “Wednesdays at the GIUB” lecture, and rounded off the week with a Siebengebirge excursion to apply ESE’s field-based teaching principles. Our thanks go to the Bonn Center for Teacher Education (BZL) and the German-Israeli Society Bonn (DIG) for their support.

The Department of Geography of the University of Bonn has revised its citation style! From now on, the updated style is not only available as a guide, but can also be used directly in citation programs such as Zotero and Citavi. The new citation style also contains guidelines for citing interviews, for example.

Climate change threatens the existence of many people and ecosystems. In view of the scientific findings, many researchers are also worried about the future. Should they talk openly about their feelings? In the new episode of the Hypothesis Podcast of the University of Bonn, geography professor Lisa Schipper, head of the research group Development Geography, discusses the thesis “Science needs facts, not emotions” with host Denis Nasser. The podcast episode is in English.

The new GIUB newsletter is published. The newsletter will inform erveryone associated with the Department of Geography about recent developments and events in a compact form once a semester. Please subscibe here: https://listen.uni-bonn.de/wws/subscribe/giub-newsletter

As part of the ERASMUS+ worldwide cooperation, the Department of Geography welcomed Dr. Eliaza Jones Mkuna from Mzumbe University, Tanzania. He is a Senior Lecturer in Economics at the Faculty of Social Sciences at Mzumbe University in the Department of Economics and Head of Research and Publications Department. 

The Federal Ministry of Education and Science (BMBF) has been funding the Programme on Water Security in Southern Africa (WASA) since this year, in which the ‘Eco-Hydrology and Water Resources Management’ working group, led by Prof. Evers, participates.