Dr Magdalena Rodekirchen

I am a multi-disciplinary feminist political economist/political ecologist whose work spans climate finance, environmental governance, and nature conservation and restoration, particularly in forest landscapes. Fundamentally, my research asks who bears the costs, whose voices are heard, and what (alternative) visions for just, sustainable futures exist in efforts to address climate breakdown. My inter- and transdisciplinary research is guided by a keen interest in a wide array of tools, methods, and methodologies within the social sciences and (environmental) humanities - and the role these play in both answering these questions and supporting socio-ecological and knowledge justice. I ground my work in theories of (eco)feminisms, coloniality, and racial capitalism, spanning critical political economy and feminist political ecology, environmental and climate change politics, environmental humanities and more-than-human geographies.

As a Postdoctoral Research and Impact Associate on the Governing Sustainable Futures (GSF) project at the University of Exeter, I work with community organisations and public bodies to co-produce participatory mechanisms for governing sustainability transitions and the conflicts that surround them.

Prior to joining the GSF project, I held roles as a Lecturer in Global Political Economy in Politics, and as a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Sustainable Consumption Institute, in Geography as well as the Global Development Institute at the University of Manchester. I previously worked as an environmental social scientist at the Free University Berlin’s Environmental Policy Research Centre, for the German Bundestag, as well as different international organisations and charities in international cooperation. I hold a PhD in Politics and an MSc in International Development, Environment, and Climate Change from the University of Manchester, and a BA in Political Science from the Free University Berlin.

My teaching is guided by decolonial, critical, and (eco)feminist pedagogical approaches for nurturing students’ critical thinking and political agency to challenge injustices at different scales. Here, I draw inspiration from the works of Paulo Freire, bell hooks, and Megan Boler, amongst others. In the classroom, I embed a range of teaching methods, including creative and participatory exercises.