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Foto: Jannis Kohlt

Dr. Sarah Kirst

Managing director and scientific coordinator

Science communication

  • Contact

    Philipps-Universität Marburg
    SFB 138 "Dynamiken der Sicherheit"
    Wilhelm-Röpke-Straße 6 C
    Raum 09C10
    D-35032 Marburg

    ☎ +49 6421/28-24587

  • Vita

    Since November 2025
    Project- and communications manager, European University for Peace, Justice, and Inclusive Societies (EUPeace), Marburg University

    2022-2025
    Scientific coordinator of the transregional Collaborative Research Center 138 "Dynamics of Security", Marburg University

    2021 - 2022
    Head of project "Trotz Reichtum Arm", Motivés e.V., Marburg

    2021
    PhD, Dr. phil. (summa cum laude), Freien Universität Berlin

    2021
    Certified Mediator, BlauRaum (Frankfurt a. M.)

    2019 - 2022
    Lecturer at Eberswalde University for Sustainable Development

    2018 - 2022
    Lecturer at Otto Suhr Institute of Political Science, Freie Universität Berlin

    2015 - 2019
    Doctoral Candidate, GLOCON (Global Change - Local Conflicts?), Otto Suhr Institute of Political Science, Freie Universität Berlin
    2013
    Consultant for the sector project "Rural Development", German Development Agency (GIZ)

    2012 - 2014
    Lecturer, International Undergraduate Study Programm, Marburg University

    2008 - 2012
    MA Peace and Conflict Studies, Center for Conflict Studies, Marburg University. 

    2010 - 2011
    Freelance researcher for the DSF project „Local conflict dynamics, environmental change, food crisis, and violent conflicts in Subsaharan Africa" at Otto Suhr Institute of Political Science, Freie Universität Berlin

    2005 - 2008
    Binational BA in European Studies. University of Paderborn & Université du Maine (Le Mans, France). 

  • Research interests

    Political Ecology
    Conflicts over land and resources 
    Land grabbing and large-scale land use change
    Inequality relations in conflicts over land
    Traditional leadership
    Qualitative methods
    Regional focus: West Africa

  • Teaching

    Summer Term 2022
    Introduction to mediation and non-violent communication (Eberswalde University for Sustainable Development)

    Winter Term 2021/22
    Qualitative methods & Data analysis (FU Berlin)

    Summer Term 2021
    Social Science Analysis of Conflict Cases (Eberswalde University for Sustainable Development)

    Winter Term 2020/21
    Qualitative methods & Data analysis (FU Berlin)

    Summer Term 2020
    Social Science Analysis of Conflict Cases (Eberswalde University for Sustainable Development)

    Winter Term 2019/20
    Qualitative methods & Data analysis (FU Berlin)

    Summer Term 2019
    Social Science Analysis of Conflict Cases (Eberswalde University for Sustainable Development)

    Winter Term 2016/17
    Large scale land transformations, conflicts, and the state in Africa (FU Berlin)

  • Publications

    2022
    Umkämpfter Zugang zu Land: Land grabbing, Konflikte und die Rolle traditioneller Autoritäten in Ghana. Bielefeld: Transcript-Verlag.

    2020
     “Chiefs do not talk law, most of them talk power.” Traditional authorities in conflicts over land grabbing in Ghana, Canadian Journal of African Studies/Revue canadienne des études africaines, 54(3), 519-539.

    2019
    Wörterbuch Land- und Rohstoffkonflikte. Bielefeld: Transcript-Verlag (Hrsg. mit Jan Brunner, Anna Dobelmann und Louisa Prause).

    Einleitung, in: Wörterbuch Land- und Rohstoffkonflikte (Hrsg. Jan Brunner, Anna Dobelmann, Sarah Kirst und Louisa Prause). Bielefeld: Transcript-Verlag, 9-18 (mit Louisa Prause, Anna Dobelmann und Jan Brunner).

    Landrechte, in: Wörterbuch Land- und Rohstoffkonflikte (Hrsg. Jan Brunner, Anna Dobelmann, Sarah Kirst und Louisa Prause). Bielefeld: Transcript-Verlag, 225-231 (mit Louisa Prause).

    Lokale Gemeinschaft, in: Wörterbuch Land- und Rohstoffkonflikte (Hrsg. Jan Brunner, Anna Dobelmann, Sarah Kirst und Louisa Prause). Bielefeld: Transcript-Verlag,239-244 (mit Louisa Prause).

    Traditionelle Autoritäten, in: Wörterbuch Land- und Rohstoffkonflikte (Hrsg. Jan Brunner, Anna Dobelmann, Sarah Kirst und Louisa Prause). Bielefeld: Transcript-Verlag, 296-302.

    2017
    „Chiefs do not talk law, most of them talk power“: Die Macht traditioneller Autoritäten in Konflikten um land grabbing in Ghana, in: GLOCON Working Paper Series, No. 5, Berlin.

    2017
    Same same but different…Challenges in the research on traditional authorities, in: Resources & Conflicts, Blog by the working group "Nature, Resources, Conflicts" of the German Association for Peace and Conflict Studies (AFK).

    Buchrezension: Bettina Engels, Melanie Müller & Rainer Öhlschläger (Hg.): Globale Krisen - Lokale Konflikte? Soziale Bewegungen in Afrika, in: PERIPHERIE, Nr. 145, 125-126.

    2015
    Beyond Scarcity. Conflicts over Land and Social Relations in Southwestern Burkina Faso , in: Modern Africa: Politics, History and Society (mit Bettina Engels).

    2014
    Land als knappe Ressource: Landkonflikte im Südwesten Burkina Fasos (mit Bettina Engels), in: Birgit Englert und Barbara Gärber (Hg.), Land grabbing. Landnahmen in historischer und globaler Perspektive. Wien: new academic press, 117-130.

    2012
    Knappe Ressourcen und ihre soziale Vermittlung: Konflikte um Land im Südwesten Burkina Fasos. Research Report Peace and Conflict Studies No. 2. Berlin: Freie Universität Berlin, Research Unit Peace and Conflict Studies (mit Bettina Engels).

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