Research
Geographical research in Bonn is mainly focused on the following five research focus areas: Water Futures, Risk and Security, Governing Transformations, Inequality and Justice and Land Surface Dynamics. Research and teaching within these key fields is divided into nine academic areas.
News on our Research
Ikram Zangana successfully defends dissertation
Ikram Zangana successfully defended his dissertation "From Efficient Geomorphological Mapping to Semi-Automated Landslide Detection." The dissertation was supervised by Prof. Dr. Lothar Schrott (University of Bonn) and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Jan-Christoph Otto (University of Salzburg). Congratulations!
International "Connect in Science"-Workshop about transdisciplinarity in social and natural sciences
From March 23 to 28, the workshop “Advancing Transdisciplinary Methodologies: Weaving Land Use, Climate Change and Local Voices” took place in the GIUB. Dr. Ann-Kathrin Volmer, together with Prof. Dr. Jessica Budds, Dr. Lisa Feist and Prof. Dr. Elisabeth Dietze from Landscape Geoscience, Institute of Geography, University of Göttingen, invited international researchers from Geography and Natural and Social Sciences to reflect together on the whereabouts, the challenges and possibilities of transdisciplinary approaches. It was connected to the joint research about Land Use under Climate Change in Ecuador and Ann-Kathrin Volmer´s project “Including the role of indigenous knowledge in water governance: The case study of Lago San Pablo, Ecuador“.
New open-access book: African Futures in the Making
he new open-access publication “African Futures in the Making”, edited by Prof. Dr. Detlef Müller-Mahn and Prof. Dr. Michael Bollig, was published in February 2026 in association with the Collaborative Research Center “Future Rural Africa”. This edited volume features 11 contributions and examines the impacts of climate change, globalization, and changing resource practices on rural areas in sub-Saharan Africa.
SOZIAHR workshop: Meeting places in the Ahr Valley
On 3 November 2025, representatives from politics, administration and civil society came together at Koblenz University of Applied Sciences (Remagen campus) for a workshop organised as part of the SOZIAHR project to discuss meeting places in the Ahr Valley. During a gallery walk, participants identified 43 facilities and observed initial differences in their spatial distribution and target groups. In the following discussion, participants addressed current challenges and developed key objectives for the future, including long-term funding models, stronger cooperation between actors and improved support for volunteers.