Fridolin Krausmann

Fridolin Krausmann is a Full Professor and Deputy Director at the Institute for Social Ecology at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna (BOKU). He has held this professorship since 2009 after serving as Associate Professor from 2007-2009. His academic career spans over two decades with significant contributions to the field of social ecology and socio-metabolic research.

Professor Krausmann's research focuses on social-metabolic transitions, sustainable agricultural and food systems, environmental and agricultural history, social-ecological long-term research (LTSER), human appropriation of net primary production (HANPP), and material and energy flow analysis. His work bridges historical perspectives with contemporary sustainability challenges, examining long-term patterns in how societies use energy, materials, and land. He has developed innovative approaches to model economy-wide material stocks and flows, with particular attention to urban systems and their global environmental impacts.

His recent publications reveal a strong focus on quantifying material stocks in long-lived products, analyzing the global biodiversity footprint of urban consumption (particularly in Vienna), and developing integrated models of material and energy metabolism. His research team has made significant contributions to understanding how spatial patterns of built structures influence resource demand and how historical transitions in social metabolism relate to contemporary sustainability challenges.

• 2021 Highly Cited Researcher (Web of Science)
• 2020 Best Paper Award of the Journal Resources, Conservation and Recycling
• 2019 Graedel Prize: Journal of Industrial Ecology (JIE) Senior Author Best Paper Prize
• 2020 Highly Cited Researcher (Web of Science)
• 2019 Highly Cited Researcher (Web of Science)

Professor Krausmann leads multiple research projects including the WWTF-funded BIODIV VIENNA project analyzing Vienna's biodiversity footprint, the MISO project modeling global material stocks and flows, and contributes to international initiatives like the UN Environment Programme's International Resource Panel. He has supervised numerous PhD students and collaborates extensively with international research networks focused on sustainability transitions and socio-ecological systems.

His work is central to the Vienna School of Social Metabolism, which examines the biophysical basis of socioeconomic systems through historical and contemporary analyses of material and energy flows. This research group has become a leading center for advancing methodologies in socio-ecological research and providing evidence for sustainable resource use policies.