Mirko Schäfer

Dr. Mirko Schäfer is a Research Associate at the Gips-Schuele-Chair of Sustainable Systems Engineering at INATECH, University of Freiburg, since 2018. Previously, he held postdoctoral positions at Aarhus University (2016–2018, Department of Engineering) and Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies (2011). He earned his Dr. phil. nat. in Physics (summa cum laude) from Goethe University Frankfurt in 2011 and a Diploma in Physics from Giessen University in 2006.

His research focuses on renewable energy systems, grid emission analysis, and energy policy. Key interests include electricity market modeling, carbon intensity tracking, and flow tracing methodologies for large-scale networks. He develops tools like PyPSA-Eur to evaluate cross-border energy flows and cost-optimal decarbonization pathways.

• Awards: Carlsberg Fellowship (2016–2018), German Academic Scholarship Foundation
• Reviewer: Energy (Elsevier), Energies (MDPI), Sustainability (MDPI)

Publications highlight work on European energy systems, transmission infrastructure scaling, and cross-border power dynamics. His work bridges physics-based modeling with socio-technical energy challenges, emphasizing equitable cost allocation and grid resilience.