New holder of the foundation chair

Title:
Professor of Cultural Geography and Development Geography

Department:
Department of Geography at Bonn University

Biography:
Professor Hans-Georg Bohle joined the Geography Department of Bonn University in 2004, having been a Professor of South Asian Geography previously at Heidelberg University (1995-2004) and a Professor of Human Geography at Freiburg University (1986-1995).

He was recently awarded MRF Chair on Social Vulnerability at UNU-EHS for the 2006/2007 academic year, funded by the MunichRe Foundation.

He is the author/editor of

• "Bewässerung und Gesellschaft im Cauvery-Delta" (Steiner 1981),
• "Südindische Wochenmarktsysteme" (Steiner 1986),
• "Coping with Vulnerability and Criticality" (Breitenbach Publishers 1993 with T.Downing, J.O. Field and F.N. Ibrahim),
• "Worlds of Pain and Hunger" (Breitenbach Publishers 1993),
• "Ernährungssicherung in Südasien" (Steiner 1997, with E.Graner, M.Heitkötter and M.Mayer),
• "Südasien: Herausforderung des Globalisierungsprozesses" (Steiner 2000) and
• "Food Crisis in Nepal" (Adroit Publishers 1999, with J. Adhikari).

Professor Bohle's teaching is focused on concepts in development geography, rural development in South Asia, famine and food systems, conflict research , and the political ecology of food, water and violence.

Professor Hans-Georg Bohle is member of the Academia Europaea, member of the International Scientific Advisory Board of the ESSP programme GECAFS, member of the Scientific Steering Committee of the IHDP core programme GECHS, member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the German Committee on Disaster Prevention DKKV, member of the IGU Taskforce on Vulnerability, member of the ICSU Committee on Disaster Research CDR, member of the International Scientific Advisory Board of the Swiss NCCR-North-South, and member of the Indo-German Consultative Group. He is on the editorial board of Studies in Development Geography (founder-editor), Die Erde, and Internationales Asienforum.

To mark the 125th anniversary of the Württemberg Association for Commercial Geography and the Society for Geography and Ethnology Stuttgart, Prof. Bohle was awarded the Graf von Linden Medal on 27 February 2007. The medal is being awarded in recognition of the social relevance of his scientific work in developing countries, especially in the fields of food security, poverty reduction, as well as in risk and social vulnerability research.

Research interests and areas of supervision:
Social Vulnerability, Food Systems in South Asia and North Africa, Conflict and Violence in Sri Lanka, Megacities in South Asia, Environment and Health in India.