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Mirja Schoderer is an Assistant Professor in the Environmental Policy Analysis (EPA) department of the Institute for Environmental Studies (IVM). Her research focuses on contestations of natural resources use and control, with a topical emphasis on water, mineral and metal extraction, and the protection of biodiversity.

Mirja is interested in how (un)just socio-natures are created through the interplay and mutual construction of biophysical conditions, cognitive-symbolic factors (such as discourses and social imaginaries) and institutional frameworks and their implementation across administrative levels. She looks at distributive outcomes, participation processes, and questions of recognition, e.g. related to rights, values, and expertise – on paper as well as on the ground. To do so, she applies a mix of methods, among them Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA), visual ethnography, and action research.

Mirja co-coordinates a comparative project on the Environmental Justice dimension of biodiversity protection, and co-leads a case study in Colombia within the project. In her previous position at IDOS (German Institute of Development and Sustainability), she worked on water governance topics in relation to development cooperation.

Mirja also teaches Bachelor and Master courses and supervises MSc dissertations.

Expertise

Environmental justice, water conflicts, politics of extraction, nature conservation and livelihoods, QCA, critical social theory and political ecology.

Education

2024: PhD in water and mining conflicts, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Netherlands.

2017: MSc Environment and Resource Management, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Netherlands.

2017: MA Comparative Literature, Freie Universität, Berlin, Germany.

2013: BA German Literature, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Germany.