Thomas Dietz

Prof. Dr. Thomas Dietz is a Professor of International Relations and Law at the University of Muenster's Institute for Political Science. He holds an MA from the University of Bonn and a PhD from the University of Bremen. His research focuses on international law, sustainable development, and bioeconomy governance. Key projects include TRANSSUSTAIN (funded by NRW Culture & Science) analyzing voluntary sustainability standards in coffee value chains, and STRIVE (BMBF-funded) evaluating bioeconomy policies' sustainability impacts. He leads interdisciplinary teams addressing issues like investor-state arbitration's impact on public policy. Notable awards include the 2010 Wolfgang Kaupen-Award for socio-legal scholarship. Current PhD advisees include Karla Rubio and Paulo Mortara Batistic, while former students like Janina Grabs (now at ETH Zurich) and Andrea Estrella Chong have contributed to coffee certification research. His work spans global policy interfaces, development economics, and transnational governance frameworks.

Research highlights include assessing bioeconomy strategies across nations, evaluating certification systems' socioeconomic impacts on smallholders, and critiquing investor arbitration's democratic legitimacy. He collaborates with institutions like INCAE Business School and FLACSO Argentina. Office: Room 303, Scharnhorststraße 100, Münster.