Past events
- 2026-07-30T13:00:00+02:00
- 2026-07-30T14:00:00+02:00
30
ThursdayPublic Inaugural Habilitation Lecture
With this public Inaugural Lecture, ZEF senior researcher Dr Tina Beuchelt concludes the process of "Habilitation" at the University of Bonn. "Habilitation" In German-speaking countries allows the degree holder to bear the title PD (for "Privatdozent"). The habilitation thesis is intended to demonstrate that the author has mastered their field in its entirety. For this reason, it is usually written on a topic that is very different from the subject of the doctoral dissertation. In a pre-final step Tina had already been granted the "Ability to teach" (Venia Legendi) in ‘Sustainable Land and Food Systems’ by the Faculty of Agricultural, Nutritional and Engineering Sciences at the University of Bonn on Wednesday, July 8, 2026 after she delivered a Habilitation Colloquium at the Faculty on the topic "Towards equity and justice in the socio-ecological transformation of land and food systems".
- 2026-07-22T11:00:00+02:00
- 2026-07-22T12:00:00+02:00
22
WednesdayZEFCPC Colloquium: Improving local agriculture practices in Niger
Agriculture is the primary source of livelihood for most of Niger's population, especially in rural areas, where farming and livestock provide food and income. However, agriculture faces challenges such as drought, desertification, low rainfall, and climate change, which affect productivity. To address these issues, farmers are turning to irrigated crops, i.e. horticulture, which helps bridge the gap in winter crop production and strengthens food security. But, horticulture is subject to high pest and disease pressure and farmers are using a broad range of industrial pesticides, replacing previous traditional control methods. The use of pesticides has thus become an integral part of the modernization of horticulture in Niger. But inappropriate use may cause negative health effects to farm operators, workers, consumers, residents, etc. Here we present research on the (eco-)toxicological impacts of pesticide use in Niger and on their potential risks for human health and the environment.
- 2026-07-08T11:00:00+02:00
- 2026-07-08T12:00:00+02:00
8
WednesdayZEF CPC Colloquium: The cocoa society in Ecuador
This research examines what I call the cocoa society in Molleturo, a rural parish in the Azuay province of southern Ecuador, as a specific socio-spatial formation produced by the encounter between a peasant territory and global cocoa capital. Rather than treating cocoa as simply a crop or a source of income, it reads cocoa production as a process of socio-spatial transformation: one that reshapes who controls the land, who can reproduce their life within it, and what alternatives remain possible. Drawing on Latin American political ecology and critical geography, the research asks how cocoa is transforming the territory, who is shaping land access, loss, and accumulation, and how peasants navigate between agroextractivism and food sovereignty.
- 2026-07-02T13:30:00+02:00
- 2026-07-02T14:30:00+02:00
2
ThursdayZEF public lecture: Advancing Urban Climate Change Adaptation
Cities are at the frontline of escalating climate change impacts, particularly in regions where rising natural hazards intersect with growing socio-economic vulnerability. Cities in such settings hence face an urgent need to engage in profound adaptation efforts. But where do cities stand in planning and implementing adaptation? Which solutions work in formal and informal settings? And how can the deep and transformative changes that are often needed in cities be negotiated and governed across different actors? The talk will address these questions by combining global evidence synthesis with lessons from in-depth case studies, particularly from Asia and Africa. It will draw recommendations for policy and action and identify research needs for the future.
- 2026-06-25T15:00:00+02:00
- 2026-06-25T16:00:00+02:00
25
ThursdayZEF/CSG Expert Talk: The implications of complexity
Join us for this open session as we discuss "The Implications of Complexity" and explore how self-organization, AI, and systems science are reshaping healthcare, transportation, and governance.
- 2026-06-24T11:00:00+02:00
- 2026-06-24T12:00:00+02:00
24
WednesdayZEF CPC Colloquium: Tensions among Farmers in Benin
Locally-led Adaptation views community-based organizations as a key delivery mechanism for redressing climate injustice by shifting power over climate adaptation to local people. This research examines how farmer groups act as formations for collective adaptation while simultaneously reproducing social hierarchies. The research adopts a political ecology lens which reveals that self-organisation through bonding practices, such as peer learning, information sharing and resource pooling in farmer groups, emerges in response to compounding climate and non-climate stresses in market gardening. However, groups are embedded within a multi-scalar governance network where local outcomes are conditioned by national and international programming and finance frameworks for climate adaptation. Externally driven conditionalities attached to accessing adaptation resources produce local tensions that enable elite capture and membership regulations which exclude some farmers from adaptation benefits.
- 2026-06-19T13:30:00+02:00
- 2026-06-19T14:30:00+02:00
19
FridayPublic lecture: An Island for Two
Rather than a dividing line, the border functions as a zone where people from both sides of Haiti and the Dominican Republic live as close neighbors with deep relationships, creating an island isolated between two countries. This presentation explores the "An Island for Two," concept, where the border exists like an island placed inside another island. Within this space, Haitians and Dominicans share unique proximity and a specific spatial solidarity. It is a cultural and social island, a gateway where the border experiences dialectics, rupture, and suture. Ultimately, it represents the revenge of geography over history: what history divided, geography has united. Jean-Marie Théodat's work focuses on borders, identity, and the intertwined histories of Haiti and the Dominican Republic. He is the author of influential works and has contributed widely to debates on postcolonialism, debt, and urban life in Haiti.
- 2026-06-18T13:30:00+02:00
- 2026-06-18T14:30:00+02:00
18
ThursdayZEF public lecture. Ruptures: What are we now?
The world is more and more fractured and disconnected, despite the technology that was designed to connect us. What is the nature of rupture, both individual and collective? The Caribbean is, perhaps, the place on earth where rupture has been most thoroughly metabolised into language through its literatures, made into something that can be passed on. How might it serve as a model for rupture and repair in the future?
- 2026-06-11T13:30:00+02:00
- 2026-06-11T15:00:00+02:00
11
ThursdayThe Kara Ritual of the Konso
This talk is part of the Heritage Week of the Bonn. More info here: https://www.uni-bonn.de/en/research-and-teaching/research-profile/transdisciplinary-research-areas/tra5/heritage-week-2026
- 2026-06-10T11:00:00+02:00
- 2026-06-10T12:00:00+02:00
10
WednesdayZEF Colloquium: Becoming river
Water is at the center of the struggle for life. Modern civilization's dependence on capitalist formations has led to the destruction of ecosystems and water-bodies as sacred entities. Rivers and mudflats, as complex hybrid networks, reveal ways of living amid a planetary crisis and can offer creative socio-ecological care practices. Drawing from extensive fieldwork in Latin America and the Caribbean, Denisse Roca-Servat, proposes to think with water as a point of departure for envisioning alternatives to the extractive-capitalist model. Becoming river, therefore, implies considering geo-hydro-social diversity, its historical foundations, its multi-scalar assemblages, and ultimately, committing to build alternative hydrosocial relations, intersecting decolonial, feminist, and cosmopolitical justice approaches.