Dr. Martin Kowarsch

• Analysis and evaluation of global environmental assessment-making, its challenges and opportunities, with a focus on the treatment of divergent normative viewpoints and multiple stakes;
• Theoretical models and practical formats for the science-policy interface and deliberative democracy;
• Ethical issues of sustainability, and political philosophy of the "global commons" (with particular interest in land/forests);
• Pragmatist philosophy (in the tradition of John Dewey and Hilary Putnam); the relationship between ethics and economics; and Albert Schweitzer's moral philosophy.

Dr. Martin Kowarsch is Associate Editor of Palgrave Communications. He was coordinator of a joint research initiative (2013 - 2016) with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) called “The Future of Global Environmental Assessment Making” (FOGEAM). This interdisciplinary evaluation of past global assessment-making was intended to inform future choices in assessment design. Jointly with Ottmar Edenhofer, Kowarsch also developed a refined science-policy model called the “Pragmatic-Enlightened Model” (PEM). Based on Dewey’s pragmatist philosophy, it suggests to explore alternative policy pathways and their implications jointly with stakeholders. The PEM influenced the assessment strategy of IPCC Working Group III during the fifth assessment cycle, and guides the assessment activities at MCC. Moreover, Kowarsch provided reviews and advice for UNEP's GEO-6 assessment, the new EU science advice mechanism, and other science-policy interfaces. Kowarsch studied philosophy and furthermore economics.

Kowarsch's new book on social-science assessments by the IPCC is now available.

In the media: Statements on the new EU science-policy interface in "Science-Business", the German newspaper "taz", again in the taz, and in the "FAZ".

Curriculum vitae

Short CV

List of publications, advice for assessments, talks, and teaching