First NT researcher to receive prestigious fellowship

A Charles Darwin University academic is the first Northern Territory-based researcher to be awarded a prestigious Humboldt Fellowship to further her research into climate change impacts and adaptation.

Northern Institute senior research fellow Dr Kerstin Zander was one of about 500 scientists and scholars world-wide to receive the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Fellowship this year to conduct research in Germany in 2018/2019.

The fellowship will enable her to carry out research for 12 months in Germany and collaborate with researchers in Bonn and Berlin.

“My main host for the Fellowship will be Professor Dirk Messner, Director of the German Development Institute in Bonn, where I will continue my research into the economic and social impacts of climate and people’s adaptation strategies,” Dr Zander said.

She also will spend two months working with Professor Hermann Lotze-Campen at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, the think tank in Europe for climate change modelling, impacts and adaptation.

“My research is particularly focused on migration as a response to extreme heat, worldwide and in Europe,” she said.

“Drawing on my experience and research findings from Australia, I will be looking at the extent to which increasing heat is contributing to national and international migration. I hope that my research will help in the development of policy for managing the effects of climate change on migration.”

The Humboldt network includes 28,000 scientists and scholars worldwide, including nearly 50 Nobel Laureates, from all disciplines in more than 140 countries.