Juliane Helm

Dr. Juliane Helm is a Project Coordinator (Scientific and Administrative) at the Department of Environmental Politics, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research – UFZ in Leipzig, Germany. Previously, she served as Project Lead at the Thuringian Institute for Sustainability and Climate Change (ThINK) in Jena and as Scientific Project Coordinator for the GreenGaDe project at the University of Potsdam. She completed her PhD in Environmental Sciences at the Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry and University of Basel (2018–2023).

• Education:
  • M.Sc. in Evolution, Ecology, and Systematics (Friedrich Schiller University, Jena, 2016)
  • Research stays: University of Avignon (2015), Rijksuniversity Groningen (2014)
  • B.Sc. in Biology (Friedrich Schiller University, Jena, 2013)

Research Interests focus on environmental governance, sustainability narratives, and science-policy-society interfaces. Her work bridges transdisciplinary governance research with futures studies to address challenges in chemicals policy, microplastics, and transformative community engagement. She applies arts-based methods (e.g., theatre techniques) to enhance decision-making processes.

Notable Publications include studies on tree stem gas exchange dynamics, carbon allocation under stress, and Mediterranean steppe restoration. These span plant physiology, ecological modeling, and environmental monitoring methodologies.

Affiliations include coordination roles in the Kili-SES Phase 2 project (2025–) and the nanoINHALE PhD cohort (2024–2026) investigating microplastics in environmental governance.

Team Members in her research group include Dr. Anran Luo, Paula Roos, and others working on topics like airborne nanoplastics and governance narratives.