![Pia-Johanna Schweizer](/sites/default/files/styles/square_round_2_up/public/2023-09/pia_johanna_schweizer_QF_Web.jpg?h=6eb229a4&itok=8hXKuk0W)
Dr. Pia-Johanna Schweizer
Research Group Leader
Phone
Pia-Johanna Schweizer studied Sociology and English & American Literature at University of Stuttgart (Germany) and University of Aberdeen (UK). In 2008, she gained a Ph.D. in Sociology (summa cum laude) from Stuttgart University with a dissertation on discursive governance. From 2002 until 2003 she was a researcher at the Academy for Technology Assessment in Baden-Württemberg (Germany). From 2003 until 2008 she was a researcher at the Institute of Social Sciences, Department of Technology and Environmental Sociology of Stuttgart University. From 2008 until 2012 she was a senior researcher and project leader at the Interdisciplinary Research Center Risk and Sustainable Technology Development (ZIRN) at Stuttgart University. From 2009 until 2016 she led the unit on risk governance at the non-profit institute for communication and cooperation research DIALOGIK. She was a visiting scholar at Michigan State University, Center for Systems Integration and Sustainability (CSIS) from 2013 through to 2014. From 2012 until 2016 she was a senior researcher and project leader at the Center for Interdisciplinary Risk and Innovation Research (ZIRIUS) at Stuttgart University, where she coordinated the Helmholtz Alliance ENERGY-TRANS research field "Planning Governance". Pia-Johanna Schweizer has led the research group "Systemic Risks" since joining the Research Institute for Sustainability (RIFS) in September 2016. The research group analyses the complex interface of science, economics, and civil society with regard to systemic risks such as climate engineering and financial risk, paying particular attention to complexity, uncertainty and ambiguity. The research group seeks to identify the "trigger points" that lead to cascading effects in various social sub-systems and will develop governance strategies for improved decision-making.
Groups
- 2019-present Research Area Speaker "Systemic interdependencies: nature, technology, society" at the Research Institute for Sustainability - Helmholtz Centre Potsdam
- 2019-present Group Leader "Systemic Risks" at the Research Institute for Sustainability - Helmholtz Centre Potsdam
- 2016-2019 Project Leader "Systemic Risks" at Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS), Potsdam
- 2015-2016 Fellow of the Asian Energy Studies Center, Hong Kong Baptist University
- 2013-2014 Visiting Scholar at Michigan State University, affiliations with Center for Systems Integration and Sustainablity (CSIS), Sociology, Environmental Science and Policy Program (ESPP)
- 2011-2016 Head of Research Field E "Planning Governance" within Helmholtz Alliance ENERGY-TRANS (http://www.energy-trans.de/english/104.php)
- 2012-2016 Senior Researcher and Project Leader, Stuttgart Research Center on Interdisciplinary Risk and Innovation Studies (ZIRIUS), Stuttgart University
- 2009-2016 Section Head "Risk Governance", DIALOGIK gGmbH
- 2008-2012 Senior Researcher and Project Leader, Interdisciplinary Research Unit on Risk Governance and Sustainable Technology Development (ZIRN), Stuttgart University
- 2003-08 Researcher, Institute of Social Sciences V, Stuttgart University, and DIALOGIK gGmbH
- 2002-03 Researcher, Center for Technology Assessment in Baden-Wuerttemberg, Department "Environment, Technology and Society"
- Systemic risks
- Risk governance
- Interdisciplinary risk analysis
- Sociology of risk
- Risk communication and participation
- Deliberative democracy
Publications at the RIFS
Publications prior to joining the RIFS
- Schweizer, Pia-Johanna; Renn, Ortwin; Köck, Wolfgang; Bovet, Jana; Benighaus, Christina; Scheel, Oliver; Schröter, Regina (2016). "Public participation for infrastructure planning in the context of the German "Energiewende"". In: Utilities Policy. Issue 43, Part B. DOI: 10.1016/j.jup.2016.06.008. 206-209.
- Schweizer, Pia-Johanna; Bovet, Jana (2016), "The potential of public participation to facilitate infrastructure decision-making: Lessons from the German and European legal planning system for electricity grid expansion". In: Utilities Policy. Issue 42. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jup.2016.06.008. 64-73.
- Fang, Baling; Tan, Yi; Li, Canbing; Cao, Yijia; Liu, Jianguo; Schweizer, Pia-Johanna; Shi, Haiqing; Zhou, Bin; Chen, Hao; Hu, Zhuangli (2016), "Energy sustainability under the framework of telecoupling". In: Energy. Issue 106. DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2016.03.055. 253-259.
- Schröter, Regina; Scheel, Oliver; Renn, Ortwin; Schweizer, Pia-Johanna (2016), "Testing the Value of Public Participation in Germany: Theory, Operationalization and a Case Study on the Evaluation of Participation". In: Energy Research and Social Science. Issue 13. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2015.12.013. 116-125.
- Bovet, Jana; Schweizer, Pia-Johanna (2015). "Öffentlichkeitsbeteiligung beim Netzausbau: Fallstricke und Verbesserungspotentiale". In: Energiewirtschaftliche Tagesfragen. 65/4. 50-53.
- Webler, Thomas; Tuler, Seth; Goble, Robert, Schweizer, Pia-Johanna (2015). "Characterizing Landscapes of Regional Risk Governance". In: International Journal of Performability Engineering. Vol. 11, No. 6, November 2015. 605-618.
- Schweizer, Pia-Johanna (2015), "Partizipation bei der Energiewende und beim Ausbau der Stromnetze: Philosophische Fundierung". In: TAB-Brief. 45/2015. 26-30.
- Renn, Ortwin; Köck, Wolfgang, Schweizer, Pia-Johanna; Bovet, Jana, Benighaus, Christina; Scheel, Oliver; Schröter, Regina (2014). "Öffentlichkeitsbeteiligung bei Vorhaben der Energiewende - Neun Thesen zum Einsatz und zur Gestaltung der Öffentlichkeitsbeteiligung". In: Zeitschrift für Umweltrecht. 2014/5. 281-288.
- Schweizer, Pia-Johanna; Renn, Ortwin (2013). Partizipation in Technikkontroversen: Panakeia für die Energiewende? In: Technikfolgenabschätzung - Theorie und Praxis, 22/ 2 (Juli 2013). 42-47.
- Renn, Ortwin; Köck, Wolfgang; Schweizer, Pia-Johanna; Bovet, Jana; Benighaus, Christina; Scheel, Oliver; Schröter, Regina (2013). Die Öffentlichkeit an der Energiewende beteiligen - Grundsätze und Leitlinien für Planungsvorhaben. In: GAIA, 22/4 (2013). 279-280.
- Renn, Ortwin; Schweizer, Pia-Johanna (2012). New Forms of Citizen Involvement. In: Gabriel, Oscar W.; Keil, Silke I.; Kerrouche, Eric (eds.). Political Participation in France and Germany. Colchester: ECPR Press. 273-295.
- Schweizer, Pia-Johanna; Schweizer, Stefan (2011). Innovation durch Governance. In: Schweizer, Pia-Johanna; Schweizer, Stefan (2011). Resonanz in der pluralen Gesellschaft. Netzwerke im systemtheoretischen Kontext. Bremen: Europäischer Hochschulverlag. 33-49.
- Renn, Ortwin; Schweizer, Pia-Johanna (2009). Inclusive Risk Governance: Concepts and Application to Environmental Policy Making. In: Environmental Policy and Governance, Vol 19 (3), Weinheim: Wiley-Blackwell. 174-185.
- Schweizer, Pia-Johanna (2008). Diskursive Risikoregulierung - Diskurstheorien im Vergleich. Baden-Baden: Nomos.
- 2019 Presenter and Organizer "Symposium: Systemic Risks, Uncertainty, and Governance", SRA annual meeting 2019, Arlington, U.S.A., 10 December 2019
- 2019 Presenter (invited) "Communicating (Systemic) Risks", Nordic seminar on chemical food safety and toxicology - Nordic workshop on risk communication, Danish Ministry of Environment and Food, Copenhagen, 29 November 2019
- 2019 Presenter (invited) "Systemische Risiken im Kontext von Digitalisierung und Nachhaltigkeit", Fachworkshop Sicherheitsforschung und Risikoanalyse des Fachdialogs Sicherheitsforschung des BMBF, Eisenach, 28 October 2019
- 2019 Panelist (invited) „Panel Discussion "Systemic Risks: Challenges for Risk Analysis and Governance", SRA-E annual meeting 2019, 26 June 2019, Potsdam, Germany.
- 2019 Presenter „Systemic Risks: Concept and Implications for Governance", SRA-E annual meeting 2019, 25 June 2019, Potsdam, Germany.
- 2019 Presenter (invited) "Transdisziplinarität in der Risikoforschung", Frühjahrstagung des Leopoldina-Zentrums für Wissenschaftsforschung, 11 April 2019, Halle/Saale, Germany.
- 2018 Panelist (invited) "Risiko", Neue Zürcher Zeitung Podium Berlin, 4 October 2018, Köln, Germany.
- 2018 Presenter "Systemic Risks - Concepts and Suggestions for Risk Governance", SRA-E annual meeting 2018, 18 June 2018, Östersund, Schweden.
- 2017 Presenter "Symposium: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Systemic Risks", SRA annual meeting 13 December 2017, Arlington, U.S.A.
- 2017 Presenter (invited) "Governance of Systemic Risks", ETH Zurich, 7 December 2017, Zurich, Switzerland.
- 2017 Presenter (invited), "Governance of Systemic Risk: Challenges and Potential Solutions", EFSA Stakeholder Forum at European Food Safety Authority, 30 May 2017, Parma, Italy.
- 2015 Chauncey Starr Distinguished Young Risk Analyst Award der Society for Risk Analysis (SRA)