Julia Kunkel

Julia Kunkel is a researcher affiliated with the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), specifically within the Department for Ecological Modeling. Her work focuses on interdisciplinary environmental and socio-economic systems analysis, particularly through projects like POLISES (Policy Instruments and Socio-Environmental Systems under Global Change) and InsuranceGrass, which explore insurance mechanisms and agricultural policy impacts. She holds a PhD student position since April 2022, investigating climate risk insurances and grassland management sustainability in collaboration with ETH Zurich and iDiv.

Education:

• PhD Student (2022–present): Department of Ecological Modeling, UFZ
• M.Sc. Sustainability Management (2019–2021): University of Leipzig
• Diploma Business Mathematics (2017–2023): University of Leipzig
• B.Sc. Business Mathematics (2014–2017): University of Bayreuth
• Exchange Semester (2019–2020): Environmental Engineering, Tongji University (Shanghai)

Research Interests:

Her research integrates mathematical modeling with environmental policy analysis, addressing:

• Climate risk insurance design for agricultural resilience
• Policy instruments' effects on sustainable land use
• Human behavior modeling in socio-ecological systems
• Energy market strategies under climate uncertainty

Professional Activities:

She has contributed to projects like H2-Flex (energy systems analysis) and worked as a working student at TenneT TSO GmbH and European Energy Exchange AG. She is part of the POLISES team and utilizes models such as FORMIND and EcoEpi for interdisciplinary research.

Lab/Team Affiliations:

• POLISES: Exploring policy impacts on socio-environmental systems
• InsuranceGrass: Analyzing insurance mechanisms for grassland farmers