Brett Hankerson

Brett Hankerson is an External Doctoral Researcher at the Leibniz Institute of Agricultural Development in Transition Economies (IAMO) within the Structural Development of Farms and Rural Areas department. He joined IAMO in October 2013 as a graduate research assistant and is affiliated with the IAMO Land Systems Group, working from Room 242 with contact number +49 345 2928-217.

His research focuses on livestock development in Kazakhstan, pasture use dynamics, and mapping land system change across Eurasian steppes. Key projects include the EPIKUR initiative (Economic and natural potentials of agricultural production and carbon tradeoffs in Kazakhstan, Ukraine, and Russia) where he investigates grazing patterns, fire ecology, and carbon tradeoffs. His PhD dissertation examines Dynamics of livestock production and the potential for development in Kazakhstan.

Hankerson's publication record shows consistent output since 2016, with recent high-impact work in Regional Environmental Change (2025) and Scientific Data (2023). His research integrates geospatial modeling, field data collection, and socio-economic analysis to address sustainable land management challenges in post-Soviet transition economies.

As part of the IAMO Land Systems Group, he contributes to collaborative research on Eurasian steppe ecosystems, participating in international conferences including the Global Land Programme Open Science Meetings and Silk Road agricultural symposiums. His methodological expertise spans spatial allocation modeling, livestock density mapping, and fire regime analysis.