Marie Simon, M.A.

Based on an interest into the drivers of violent conflicts, Michelle completed a B.Sc. (2020) in Political Science at the Bavarian School of Public Policy (HfP), which is part of the Technical University Munich (TUM), and a M.A. in International Affairs (2022) from the American University of Paris.

During her field research on resilient peace in Bosnia-Herzegovina she developed a curiosity to understand the resilience of ecosystems and human communities from a systems perspective. In a following internship with the GIZ Civil Peace Service in Bonn and Uganda she explored the inter-relations between climate change, environmental destruction and violent conflict, including the impacts renewable energy projects can have on conflicts in the Global South. Being inspired by a project that effectively transformed a resource conflict by bringing together peace facilitators and ecologists she decided to pursue a B.Sc. in Forest Science and Resource Management at the TUM.

In the Environmental Studies Certificate program, Michelle aims to look into how our current economic, agricultural and resource management practices could be transformed to facilitate more resilient communities and ecosystems. She is convinced that interdisciplinary expertise is key to address the most urgent environmental problems and violent conflicts simultaneously.