Dr. Thomas Falk

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Dr. Thomas Falk is Senior Economist at the research group "Sustainable Use of Natural Resources". He contributes to our BMBF funded project on Social Implications of Climate change and Sustainability Innovations in the Global South (NISANSA). His research focuses on the ability of experiential learning tools to trigger behavioural change. In the frame of NISANSA, such tools will be developed and their impact assessed using experimental approaches.

• Inhalt ausklappen Inhalt einklappen Curriculum Vitae

  Dr. Thomas Falk
  born 29th June 1974 in Greiz/Germany.
  
  Education and qualification

  10/2007	Completed PhD on “Communal Farmers’ Natural Resource Use and Biodiversity Preservation - Case Studies in Namibia and South Africa”
  10/1993 – 12/2000	Study of Economics and Business Management at the University of Marburg
  09/1997 – 09/1998	Study of Russian language and economy at the Lomonossov-State-University Moscow

  
  Professional experience

  Since 10/2022 Senior Economist
  University of Marburg, School of Business and Economics, Research Group Sustainable Use of Natural Resources
  
   04/2015 – 01/2022 Senior Economist
  International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Hyderabad/India
  
  09/2010 – 08/2015 Postdoctoral research fellow 
  University of Marburg with regular visits to Namibia, Botswana, and Angola
  
  05/2010 – 03/2015 Postdoctoral research fellow 
  Southern African Science Service Centre for Climate Change and Adaptive Land Use;
  Based in Marburg with regular visits to Namibia, South Africa, Zambia, Botswana, and Angola.
  
   11/2007 – 04/2010 Postdoctoral research fellow 
  University of Marburg, regular visits to Namibia & South Africa
  Project “Biodiversity Monitoring Transect Analysis in Africa“
  
  05/2005 – 06/2007 DED-Consultant
  German Development Service/Deutsche Gesellschaft für Int. Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH based in Jangikishlok/ Uzbekistan
  
  02/2001 – 04/2004 Junior research fellow
  University of Marburg with regular visits to Namibia & South Africa
  
  

• Inhalt ausklappen Inhalt einklappen Publications

  For my full publication record, see my Google Scholar profile.

• Inhalt ausklappen Inhalt einklappen Research Area

  - Economics of biodiversity conservation, ecosystem services and scenario development;
  - Multi-level governance in social-ecological systems (SES);
  - Science-policy interaction and trans-disciplinarity;
  - Economic institutions and institutional change in natural resource management;
  - Reforms in natural resource management in the context of poverty alleviation;
  - Development of experiential learning tools;
  - Conceptualizing, implementing and assessing impact of behavioral change interventions.

• Inhalt ausklappen Inhalt einklappen Work in Progress

  Together with Prof. Dr. Björn Vollan, Dr. Thomas Falk predominantly contributes to the project Social Implications of Climate change and Sustainability Innovations in the Global South (NISANSA).
  This project examines the behavior of local resource users in relation to different climate change and governance scenarios using experimental approaches. For this purpose, economic experiments are developed together with implementation partners, which are not only used to observe behavior but also to enter into a dialogue with the participants. Based on aforementioned scenarios, participants can experiment with different management options in a low-risk space, learn how fellow community members behave and what consequences their action can have in the long term and on others. This kind of playful experience can accelerate a real-life learning process. Building on this process, adaptation strategies and innovations will be discussed with the participants and various stakeholders. In this participatory process, we will try to better understand local knowledge about resource dynamics, to capture local discourses and, if necessary, to change resource management behavior. The next step is to measure the impact of these experimental workshops by visiting the same village communities again a year later. If we find evidence for the intended impact, this can increase the motivation of implementation partners to integrate experimental workshops into their intervention strategies.

  More ungoing projects:
  
  Bartels, L., Falk, T., Vollan, B., Duche, V.: Experimental games in transdisciplinary research: The potential importance of incentivization.
  Falk, T., Bartels, L., Vollan, B., Steimanis, I., Duche, V.: Games support collective action.
  Falk, T., Anupama GV, Gregg, D.: The Relation between Farm Size and Productivity is shifting in India.
  Falk, T., Zhang, W., Meinzen-Dick, R. S., & Bartels, L.: Games for triggering collective change in commons management: A conceptual framework and insights from four cases from India.
  Finck, M., Pröpper, M., Röder, A., Falk, T., Stirn, S., Domptail, S., Göhmann, H., Gröngröft, A., Lages, F., Mapaure, C., Mellera, P., Murray-Hudson, M., Revermanna, R., Schmidt, L., Schneibel, A., Stellmes, M., Weber, T., Jürgens, N.: Anthropogenic transformation syndromes drive social-ecological changes in the Okavango Basin
  Homann Kee Tui, S., Falk, T., Hauser, M.: Intervening in complex agri-food systems: Assessing the impact of a multi-stakeholder approach in Mozambique.
  Falk, T., Anupama GV, Ruckh, T.,: Gender Differences in Agricultural Productivity in Eastern India and Bangladesh.