Dr. Pia-Johanna Schweizer
Research Group Leader
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Pia-Johanna Schweizer has led the research group "Systemic Risks" since joining the RIFS (then the IASS) in 2016. The research group analyzes the complex interface of technology, society and the environment regarding systemic risks such as climate change, paying particular attention to complexity, uncertainty and ambiguity. The research group identifies "trigger points" that lead to cascading effects in various social sub-systems and develops governance strategies for improved decision-making. Pia-Johanna Schweizer studied Sociology and English/American Studies at the University of Stuttgart and the University of Aberdeen, UK. She received her doctorate in sociology from the University of Stuttgart in 2008 on the topic of discursive risk regulation. Before joining RIFS, Pia-Johanna Schweizer worked as a researcher at the Institute of Social Sciences, Department of Sociology of Technology and Environment at the University of Stuttgart, at DIALOGIK gGmbH and as a senior researcher at the Interdisciplinary Research Center for Risk and Sustainable Technology Development (ZIRN) at the University of Stuttgart. From 2013 to 2014, she was a Visiting Scholar at Michigan State University, U.S.A. at the Center for Systems Integration and Sustainability (CSIS).
Projects
Groups
Blog Posts
- Systemic & Disaster Risk Resilience Requires All-Hands-On-Deck! The Paradigm of Participation in Building European Resilience
- Preparing for the Challenges Ahead – Flood Preparedness, Disaster Risk Management, and Climate Change Adaption in Europe
- Vulnerable supply chains in times of Covid-19 and climate change: A call for a new research agenda
- 2016 - present Research Group Leader "Systemic Risks" at the RIFS
- 4/2012 - 8/2016 Senior Research Associate at the Center for Interdisciplinary Risk and Innovation Studies (ZIRIUS) at Stuttgart University
- 8/2013 - 8/2014 Visiting Scholar at Michigan State University, affiliated with the Institute of Sociology and Environmental Science, the Center for Systems Integration and Sustainability, and the Environmental Science and Policy Program
- 3/2008 - 3/2012 Senior Research Associate at the Interdisciplinary Research Center Risk and Sustainable Technology Development (ZIRN) at Stuttgart University
- 2/2003 - 2/2008 Research Associate at the Institute for Social Sciences, Department of Sociology of Technology and the Environment at Stuttgart University and DIALOGIK, non-profit corporation for communication and cooperation research
- 9/2002 - 1/2003 Research Associate at the Academy of Technology Assessment in Baden-Württemberg
- Systemic risks
- Risk governance
- Interdisciplinary risk analysis
- Risk communication and participation
- Sociology of risk
- deliberative and participatory methods
Publications at the RIFS
Publications prior to joining the RIFS
- Schweizer, Pia-Johanna; Renn, Ortwin; Köck, Wolfgang; Bovet, Jana; Benighaus, Christina; Scheel, Oliver; Schröter, Regina (2016). "Public participation for infrastructure planning in the context of the German 'Energiewende'". In: Utilities Policy. Issue 43, Part B. DOI: 10.1016/j.jup.2016.06.008. 206-209.
- Schweizer, Pia-Johanna; Bovet, Jana (2016), "The potential of public participation to facilitate infrastructure decision-making: Lessons from the German and European legal planning system for electricity grid expansion". In: Utilities Policy. Issue 42. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016 j.jup.2016.06.008. 64-73.
- Fang, Baling; Tan, Yi; Li, Canbing; Cao, Yijia; Liu, Jianguo; Schweizer, Pia-Johanna; Shi, Haiqing; Zhou, Bin; Chen, Hao; Hu, Zhuangli (2016), "Energy sustainability under the framework of telecoupling". In: Energy. Issue 106. DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2016.03.055. 253-259.
- Schröter, Regina; Scheel, Oliver; Renn, Ortwin; Schweizer, Pia-Johanna (2016), "Testing the Value of Public Participation in Germany: Theory, Operationalization and a Case Study on the Evaluation of Participation". In: Energy Research and Social Science. Issue 13. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2015.12.013. 116-125.
- Bovet, Jana; Schweizer, Pia-Johanna (2015). "Öffentlichkeitsbeteiligung beim Netzausbau: Fallstricke und Verbesserungspotentiale". In: Energiewirtschaftliche Tagesfragen. 65/4. 50-53.
- Renn, Ortwin; Köck, Wolfgang; Schweizer, Pia-Johanna; Bovet, Jana; Benighaus, Christina; Scheel, Oliver; Schröter, Regina (2013). Die Öffentlichkeit an der Energiewende beteiligen - Grundsätze und Leitlinien für Planungsvorhaben. In: GAIA, 22/4 (2013). 279-280.
- Renn, Ortwin; Schweizer, Pia-Johanna (2009). Inclusive Risk Governance: Concepts and Application to Environmental Policy Making. In: Environmental Policy and Governance, Vol 19 (3), Weinheim: Wiley-Blackwell. 174-185.
- Schweizer, Pia-Johanna (2008). Diskursive Risikoregulierung - Diskurstheorien im Vergleich. Baden-Baden: Nomos.
- 2024 Keynote "Labor Theory and Resilience in Times of Polycrisis", Annual GATWU Conference
- 2023 Keynote "Global Challenges and Local Solutions? Participatory Risk Governance for Systemic Transformations towards Sustainability and Resilience", Conference "Predictable Futures? On the Impact of Fear and Insecurity in the Baltic Sea Region", Interdisziplinäres Forschungszentrum Ostseeraum, Greifswald
- 2023 Keynote "Systemic Risk - Information, Knowledge, Governance", 20th Annual Global Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (ISCRAM 2023), Omaha, USA
- 2022 Presidential Merit Award, Society for Risk Analysis
- 2015 Chauncey Starr Distinguished Young Risk Analyst Award, Society for Risk Analysis
- since 2024 Co-speaker of the RIFS Research Theme "Transforming Human-Earth Interactions"
- since 2023 Deputy Ombudsperson for good scientific practice at the GFZ Helmholtz Centre for Geosciences
- seit 2022 Associate Editor for Frontiers in Climate: Climate Risk Management
- seit 2022 Editorial Board for the Journal of Risk Research
- seit 2021 Scientific Advisory Board for GAIA – Ecological Perspectives for Science and Society