Franz Gatzweiler

Franz Gatzweiler

Senior Research Advisor

Education
PhD in Resource Economics, Humboldt University of Berlin
Education
MSc in Agricultural Economics, Humboldt University of Berlin
Education
BSc in Agricultural Sciences, University of Bonn
Institute
UNU Macau
Contacts
franz@unu.edu

With a background in agricultural and resource economics, Franz Gatzweiler is a Senior Research Advisor at the United Nations University Institute in Macau.   

Before joining UNU Macau, Franz was a Professor at the Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Science in Xiamen and executive director of the global science programme on Urban Health and Wellbeing: A Systems Approach, which is an affiliated body of the International Science Council (ISC).

Franz studied agricultural, resource and institutional economics at the University of Bonn and holds a PhD and habilitation in resource economics from the Humboldt University of Berlin. He established links between the Department of Resource Economics under Professor Konrad Hagedorn and the (Vincent and Elinor) Ostrom Workshop in Bloomington, Indiana University, which collaborated in research on the institutional transition process of Central and Eastern European countries.

Prior to that, he was a Senior Researcher and project coordinator at the Center for Development Research (ZEF), Bonn University, Germany where he carried out research and development projects on the valuation, conservation, and use of biodiversity and ecosystems, marginality, as well as technological and institutional innovations for marginalised smallholders in agriculture.

He is a free-ranging intellectual who grazes on the inter- and transdisciplinary knowledge fields of complex social-ecological-technological systems and is enthusiastic about participatory modelling and systems thinking.    

Research Interests

  • Collective intelligence and action

  • Complex adaptive systems

  • Health and wellbeing for sustainable development

Publications

Blog Post

A Constructive Approach to Participatory Computerised Modelling

A human-centred systems approach involves building a meaningful relationship with citizens and enabling them to build skills to cope with complexity.

21 Apr 2023

Blog Post

IR 4.0 is not a Scientific Revolution: A Paradigm Shift in the Making

The idea of sustainable development in the era of the Anthropocene seems to be getting in conflict with itself.

28 Mar 2023

Blog Post

Breakthrough: Building Collective Intelligence for Our Common Agenda

Collective intelligence can be created in practice by engaging in participatory or collaborative modelling, supported by digital technologies.

18 Oct 2022

See all