Dr. Michael Hagenlocher's main interest lies in better understanding the complex, systemic nature of risks and identifying pathways towards more resilient futures.
Dr. Michael Hagenlocher is Deputy Head of the Vulnerability Assessment, Risk Management & Adaptive Planning (VARMAP) division of UNU-EHS. Much of his work focuses on understanding the root causes, drivers and dynamics of vulnerabilities and risks (including cascading and systemic risks) associated with climate change and socio-natural hazards, and evaluating implications for comprehensive risk management and adaptation. Besides leading and managing multiple projects, he supports the institute in securing third-party funding, and co-/supervises team members, visiting scholars as well as PhD and master students in the VARMAP division.
Since 2019, Dr. Hagenlocher is also the Deputy Head of the UNU-EHS Academic Board of the Joint MSc programme “Geography of Environmental Risks and Human Security” with the University of Bonn where he also coordinates a module on “Concepts & Theories of Vulnerability, Risk, Resilience and Adaptation”. Further, he contributes to the MSc “Public Policy & Human Development” at UNU-MERIT in Maastricht (Netherlands).
Dr. Hagenlocher is involved in various networks such as the Global Risk Assessment Framework (GRAF), the UN Inter-Agency Focal Points Group (FPG) "Disaster Risk Reduction for Resilience", the Index for Risk Management (INFORM), and the GIZ “Climate Risk” Community of Practice. He has served as a Lead Author in the 2021 UNDRR “GAR Special Report on Drought” and the EU “Science for Disaster Risk Management: Acting today, protecting tomorrow” flagship report, as well as a Contributing Author in UNU-EHS’s “Interconnected Disaster Risks 2020/2021” report and the “Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction 2022 (GAR 2022)”.
Prior to joining UNU-EHS, Dr. Hagenlocher has worked as a researcher at the University of Salzburg’s Department of Geoinformatics (Austria), expert for UN-SPIDER, visiting scientist at Harvard University (USA) and lecturer at the University of Tuebingen (Germany). Furthermore, he did consultancy work for the European Commission, GIZ, UN Environment and UNDP.
Dr. Hagenlocher has received multiple awards, including the “Förderpreis Geoinformatik” by the Technische Universität München in 2016 and the “Sustainability Award” by the University of Tuebingen in 2011.
He is author/co-author of 100+ publications, including >40 peer-reviewed journal articles, but also reports, book chapters, policy briefs and op-eds. For more information please refer to his ResearchGate or Google Scholar profiles.
