Project Shared Seas

Dr.
Silja Zimmermann

Biography

Silja Zimmermann studied Geography (B. Sc.) and Nature Conservation and Landscape Ecology (M. Sc.) at the University of Bonn as well as Global Change Geography (M. Sc.) at the Humboldt University in Berlin. She completed her PhD in Transformative Sustainability Science at the Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development and the Center for Complex Systems Studies (CCSS) at Utrecht University.

In her dissertation, she explored transdisciplinary research and complexity science approaches as tools to support transformative change in social-ecological systems. Specifically, she focused on leveraging a sustainability transformation to increase food security and food sovereignty in the Arctic Indigenous food system on St. Paul Island, Alaska (USA).

Since March 2026, Silja has been a postdoctoral researcher in the project “SharedSeas,” led by Prof. Dr. Stefan Partelow. Her research interests include social-ecological systems, sustainability transformations, transdisciplinarity, participatory methods, and the co-creation of research processes.

Contact

silja.zimmermann@uni-bonn.de

+49 228 73 66236

Location

Center for Life Ethics

Schaumburg-Lippe-Straße 7

53113 Bonn

Vita

Academic Background

2021–2025

Dissertation: Transformative Sustainability Science, Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development, Center for Complex Systems Studies, Utrecht University, Title: „Tipping the Iceberg – Leveraging a food system transformation for Arctic Indigenous communities“

2017–2020

Global Change Geography M. Sc., Humboldt University Berlin

2015–2017

Conservation and Landscape Ecology M. Sc., University of Bonn

2012–2015

Geography B. Sc., University of Bonn

Curriculum Vitae

Since March 2026

Postdoctoral researcher „Shared Seas“ Project, Center for Life Ethics, University of Bonn

April 2025–February 2026

Postdoctoral researcher „Living Grasslands“ Project, Utrecht University

Publications

Journal Articles

Zimmermann, S. et al. (2026). “Hearing everyone’s perspective makes me want to make a change”: a podcast as a lever for change in an Arctic Indigenous community. Ecology and Society, 31(1).
De Jager, L. et al. (2025). Transdisciplinary complexity science: deepening system understanding for sustainability. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 12(1), 1-10.
Zimmermann, S. et al. (2025). Leveraging value-based pathways for Indigenous food security through Participatory Scenario Planning: A case study from St. Paul Island, Alaska, USA. Futures. doi.org/10.1016/j.futures.2025.103610
Zimmermann, S. et al. (2025). Value change debt as a window of opportunity for transformative change: a case study on the mixed Indigenous food system of St. Paul Island, Alaska. Sustainability Science, 1-19. doi.org/10.1007/s11625-025-01665-z
Horcea-Milcu, A. I. et al. (2024). Transformative research for sustainability: characteristics, tensions, and moving forward. Global Sustainability, 7, e14.doi.org/10.1017/sus.2024.12
Zimmermann, S. et al. (2024). The importance of diversity in local food systems: a network analysis of food-related interactions in the Indigenous food system on St. Paul Island, Alaska. Regional Environmental Change, 24(2), 91. doi.org/10.1007/s10113-024-02255-y
Zimmermann, S. et al. (2023). A leverage points perspective on Arctic Indigenous food systems research: a systematic review. Sustainability Science, 18(3), 1481-1500. doi.org/10.1007/s11625-022-01280-2
Zimmermann, S. et al. (2018). Lichen cover mapping in southern Norway—An analysis with remote sensing and GIS. gisScience—Die Zeitschrift fur Geoinformatik, 60-71.

Dr.Silja Zimmermann