Dr. Karen M. Siegel
Senior Fellow
Karen Siegel is interested in the international politics of sustainable development and sustainability transitions with a particular focus on just food system transformations. Her research at the RIFS focusses on how these processes are shaped by political inequality. Since April 2020 she has been head of the research group "Transformation and Sustainability Governance in South American Bioeconomies" at the University of Münster, Germany. Before this she was a Lord Kelvin Adam Smith Fellow at the University of Glasgow, UK. Other previous work experience includes lecturing at Edinburgh Napier University where she led courses on global environmental politics, qualitative research methods and British politics in Edinburgh and Hong Kong in cooperation with Hong Kong University School of Professional and Continuing Education as well as two years in Brussels working with the European Commission and the consultancy Bernard Brunhes International and a year in Quito, Ecuador where she worked as an English teacher at the Centro de Educación Continua de la Escuela Politécnica Nacional.
- 04/2020-ongoing: University of Münster, Institute of Political Science: Head of Research Group "Transformation and Sustainability Governance in South American Bioeconomies"
- 10/2016-03/2020: University of Glasgow, UK: Lord Kelvin Adam Smith Research Fellow
- 01/2015-09/2016: Edinburgh Napier University, UK: Lecturer in Politics
- 10/2010-01/2015: University of Glasgow, UK: Graduate Teaching Assistant in Politics
- 02/2008-09/2009: Bernard Brunhes International, Brussels, Belgium: Researcher
- 10/2007-02/2008: European Commission, DG External Relations - Latin America, Brussels: Trainee
- 04/2005-03/2006: Centro de Educación Continua de la Escuela Politécnica Nacional, Quito, Ecuador: English and French Teacher
- International politics of sustainable development and sustainability transitions
- Natural resource governance in the international political economy
- Just food system transformations
- Bioeconomy governance
- Regionalism
- Latin America
Publications prior to joining the RIFS
- de Queiroz-Stein, G. and Siegel, K.M. (forthcoming) "Promoting inclusiveness in biodiversity governance? Access and benefit sharing under the Convention on Biological Diversity", Global Environmental Politics
- Deciancio, M. and Siegel, K.M. (2023) "The emergence of alternative sociotechnical imaginaries in Argentina's agricultural sector: lessons for democracy and sustainability" German Political Science Quarterly, 64: 741-762 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11615-023-00502-1
- de Queiroz-Stein, G. and Siegel, K.M. (2023) "Possibilities for mainstreaming biodiversity? Two perspectives on the concept of bioeconomy", Earth System Governance, Volume 17, August 2023, 100181, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.esg.2023.100181
- Siegel, K.M., Deciancio, M., Kefeli, D., de Queiroz-Stein, G., Dietz, T. (2022) "Fostering transitions towards sustainability? The politics of bioeconomy development in Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil", Bulletin of Latin American Research, 41(4): 541-556 http://doi.org/10.1111/blar.13353
- Siegel, K.M. and Bastos Lima, M.G. (2022) „Introduction: Quo Vadis, Latin America? Human Rights, Environmental Governance and the Sustainable Development Goals", Bulletin of Latin American Research, 41(3): 341-343 https://doi.org/10.1111/blar.13371
- Siegel, K.M. (2021) "Pulp friction in the La Plata basin: The importance of natural resource governance for South American regionalism", Journal of Environment and Development, 30(2): 172-190, doi.org/10.1177/1070496521998734
- Siegel, K.M. and Bastos Lima, M.G. (2020) "When international sustainability frameworks encounter domestic politics: The Sustainable Development Goals and agri-food governance in South America", World Development, Volume 135, November 2020 doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2020.105053
- "Prospects for a sustainability transition across global agrifood chains: considerations of dependency and justice", Environmental Politics, Policy and Learning Seminar Series, Stockholm University, 27 March 2025
- "Sostenibilidad y gobernanza de la bioeconomía en la economía política mundial: Una agenda de investigación", Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Argentina, 22 March 2023
- Inter-Asia Engagements Cluster "Shaping Approaches to Sustainability in Agriculture: A Comparison of the Extractive Imperative in South America and Southeast Asia" with Helena Varkkey (University of Malaya), Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore, online, 13 July 2021
Research prize Münster University Society 2025