Robert John

• Political Ecology
• Resource geographies
• Geographies of Marketization
• Sand mining
• Regional focus: Southeast - and South Asia

• Member of the “Sandscapes Collective” (since 10.2018) - (https://www.researchgate.net/project/Sandscapes-Collective)

• Research-scholarship, granted by the German Academic Exchange Service (04.2018 – 10.2018)
• PhD-scholarship, granted by the Landesgraduiertenförderung Baden-Württemberg (10.2017 -10.2018)

since 11/2018		Research associate and lecturer at the Institute for Environmental Social Sciences and Geography at the University of Freiburg
since 4/2016		Doctoral Candidate at the Institute for Environmental Social Sciences and Geography, with the topic " Marketization of sand in Cambodia: global networks, conflicts and materialities"
03/2015 – 05/2015		Research stay at the IIT Madras, Chennai, India
11/2014 – 12/2015		Research assistant in the international project "Smart Eco Cities: A comparative analysis of European and Chinese cases" (Details (https://www.envgov.uni-freiburg.de/en/forschung-en/SmartEcoCities_eng))
2013 – 2015		M.Sc.in "Environmental Governance" at the Albert-Ludwigs-University Freiburg
2010 – 2011		Initiation, co-conception and organization of two study excursions and seminars to Kenya (Socioeconomic, Environmental Change and Development in Kenya) and China (Business Ethics Issues in a Transitional Economy: China`s Particular Path)
2009 – 2013		B.A. in "Philosophy and Economics" at the University of Bayreuth

 

The dissertation "Marketization of sand in Cambodia: global networks, conflicts and materialities" is part of the DFG project of the same name. (https://www.geographie.uni-freiburg.de/en/research-interests/research-interests-poe)

The doctoral project regards itself as activist research. There are multiple cooperation’s with different actors on site. These range from simple exchange of information to collaborative investigative work and campaign design. Partners include diverse NGOs, various journalists and individual activists.

In addition, an alternative, non-text-based approach to the research topic should be developed within the framework of the doctoral thesis. This includes an interdisciplinary cooperation with Michelle Reutter, Fine Arts, Bauhaus University Weimar. The first results of the collaboration were presented in the space and sound installation "Floating Sand - Static Land" by Michelle Reutter, from the 12.07 to 14.07.2019, at the annual showcase “summaery”.