Salina Spiering
RESEARCHER II
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Salina Magdalena Spiering (PhD) is a political geographer with an interdisciplinary research background in geography, political science and biology. She has over 14 years of experience in cross- and transdisciplinary research in sustainability and societal transformation, with a particular emphasis on narratives, conceptualization of transformative change, and issues related to power, empowerment and community development.
Her research focuses on transformational processes in biodiversity management, agricultural and food systems, and sustainable development in energy, agricultural, and coastal community contexts at local, regional, and European levels. Her work includes feminist perspectives, conflict transformation, and the development of quality criteria for transformative research, with a particular interest in how transformative change can support capacity building and empowerment of local communities.
As a trained mediator, she has a process-oriented approach to research and project work, focusing on developing strategic and holistic solutions in collaboration with relevant stakeholders. She mainly uses transformative and needs-based approaches, with qualitative methodology and reflexive follow-up for continuous improvement of projects.
Salina previously worked as a researcher at the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research – UFZ in Leipzig, Germany, before joining as a senior researcher at Nordland Research Institute in September 2023.
She holds a PhD in political geography from the University of Münster, with the thesis “Transformative science methods – the Human Scale Development approach revisited” . She holds a diploma in geography from the University of Leipzig, with additional subjects in political science and biology.
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