Doris Fuchs will become director of the Research Institute for Sustainability - Helmholtz Centre Potsdam on 1 October 2023. The political scientist will form a dual leadership team with the atmospheric scientist and long-time director Mark Lawrence. She wants to strengthen the transdisciplinary research profile of RIFS and expand it to include questions on the political economy of sustainable consumption.

Doris Fuchs is professor of International Relations and Sustainable Development at the Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster. She is the speaker of the Centre for Interdisciplinary Sustainability Research (ZIN) there. Her research includes questions on the relationship between democracy and sustainability, sustainable consumption and transnational sustainability governance.

"Our time is characterised by complex problems that can hardly be tackled with common methods. RIFS has made a name for itself with its transdisciplinary approach, in which researchers enter into in-depth exchange with politics, civil society and business. My goal is to further expand this approach with the RIFS researchers and thus develop suitable solutions for the sustainability transformation of our society," says Fuchs.

Her task will also be to further develop the connection of RIFS to the Helmholtz Centre Potsdam - German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ), which took place in January 2023. "There are exciting interfaces between the work of the GFZ and that of RIFS with great potential for synergies. I look forward working together in the interest of sustainability transformation," emphasises the designated RIFS director.

The Scientific Director of the GFZ, Susanne Buiter, says on the appointment of Doris Fuchs: "The exchange between research on the one hand and politics and society on the other has gained enormously in importance in recent years. The work of RIFS and in particular the focus of the new director is an ideal complement both for the GFZ and for the entire Helmholtz Association. I look forward working with Doris Fuchs and am sure that we as GFZ as well as the Helmholtz Association will benefit from it."

Mark Lawrence added: "Doris Fuchs is the perfect choice to continue the transformative, transdisciplinary sustainability research that has been established at RIFS in recent years. We are delighted that she has accepted the position and will begin her new role with us very soon."

About the person

Doris Fuchs has been a professor in Münster since 2008. She studied politics and economics in the USA and received her doctorate from Claremont Graduate University in California in 1997. Her career includes positions at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich, the Leipzig Graduate School of Management and the University of Stuttgart.