A political scientist by training, I am passionate about finding regulatory pathways toward sustainable economies that respect our planetary boundaries while meeting humanity’s needs. I have a specific topical interest in sustainable food systems and agricultural commodity production.
I defended my PhD in Political Science from the Graduate School of Politics of the University of Münster in 2018 (summa cum laude). During the pursuit of my PhD, I also held visiting scholar appointments at Yale University’s School of Forestry and Environmental Studies as well as Carleton University’s School of Public Policy and Administration. I further hold a M.Sc. in Agricultural and Food Economics from Bonn University and a M.Sc. in Business and Economics from the Swedish Agricultural University (SLU). I attained these degrees through the Erasmus Mundus Master’s programme in Agricultural, Food and Environmental Policy Analysis (AFEPA). I pursued an undergraduate B.A. degree in Political Science (First Grade honors) with a double minor in Economics and Russian at McGill University.
Prior to pursuing my PhD degree, I was a Mercator Fellow on International Affairs, investigating institutional support systems of a more sustainable food system through work placements with the European Commission’s organic policy unit and the German Development Cooperation (GIZ)’s Costa Rica country bureau, where I worked on supporting the country’s NAMA Café project for climate-smart coffee production. I have also worked for several NGOs including NAHhaft and Food Secure Canada. I continue to be passionate about transdisciplinary research and working on the science-policy interface. In this function, I have consulted the International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems, co-chaired the EKLIPSE Expert Working Group on Business and Biodiversity, and engaged with actors in the coffee sector in their quest for sustainability.
I speak English, German, French, and Spanish fluently, am working on keeping up my Russian and Swedish, and am keen to improve my Portuguese and Bahasa Indonesia.
Janina Grabs 