Johannes Schiller

Dr. Johannes Schiller is a researcher in the Department of Economics at the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) in Leipzig, Germany, where he has been working since 2002. He is part of the Working Group Social-science Water Research within the Research Unit Environment and Society.

His educational background includes:

• Studied physics and economics at the Universities of Dortmund and Heidelberg and at the École Normale Supérieure de Paris (1990-1997)
• Graduated with a degree in physics, specializing in environmental physics
• Doctorate in economics (2002) with dissertation titled 'Environmental problem and time. Stocks as a conceptual basis for ecological economics'

Dr. Schiller's research focuses on ecological economics and environmental resource economics, with particular emphasis on the potentials and implementation strategies of 'rewilding' as a new concept in nature and biodiversity conservation. His work also encompasses the economics of water resources and water services, integrated river basin management, and economic aspects of German and European water law. He conducts research on sustainability concepts for preparing knowledge bases for sustainable policies, and engages in the conception, organization, and evaluation of problem-oriented science and transdisciplinarity. His theoretical work includes reflecting on and developing basic analytical concepts of ecological economics, particularly regarding the concept of man, responsibility, production concepts (especially joint production), and long-term dynamics of ecological-economic systems. He also applies his expertise to the theory and practice of technology assessment in environmental topics.

Dr. Schiller has led multiple significant research projects throughout his career, including the current REWILD_DE project (since 2020) which focuses on sustaining biodiversity and creating ecosystem service opportunities through rewilding, learning from the Oder Delta. His previous projects span topics from joint production analysis to integrated river basin management, sustainability policy decision-making tools, and EU water resource management.

His professional experience includes serving as a research assistant at Heidelberg University (1997-2002), teaching mathematics and physics on the Sail Training Ship STS Thor Heyerdahl (2009-2010), and serving as a consortium partner at the Office of Technology Assessment at the German Bundestag (2013-2018). He has been actively involved in the UFZ's Programme Integration Group and has led multiple BMBF-funded research projects throughout his career.