Marianne Penker
Marianne Penker is an Austrian sustainability scientist and academic. She is Professor of Rural Sociology and Rural Development at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna (Universität für Bodenkultur Wien, BOKU). Her research focuses on rural development, food systems, landscape governance, and transdisciplinary sustainability research, with a particular emphasis on European rural areas in an international comparative context.
Academic career
Penker is Professor of Rural Sociology and Rural Development at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna (BOKU), where she is affiliated with the Department of Economics and Social Sciences. Her teaching and research address rural transformation, sustainability governance, and the interactions between social, institutional, and ecological systems in rural areas.[1]
Research
Penker’s research is situated within sustainability science and is characterized by inter- and transdisciplinary approaches. Her work has contributed primarily to two major research strands. [citation needed]
Food systems, landscapes, and institutions
One major strand of Penker’s research examines food systems and landscapes as socio-ecological systems. Drawing on neo-institutionalist theory, particularly Elinor Ostrom’s Institutional Analysis and Development (IAD) framework and the Social-Ecological Systems (SES) framework, her research analyses how formal regulations, informal norms, and values interact with land-use practices and food production and consumption. [citation needed]
She has published influential research on geographical indications and food governance, conceptualizing European Union–protected geographical indications as forms of common goods. This research is cited in the Wikipedia article Sorana bean.[2]
Penker has also contributed to research on cultural ecosystem services, focusing on non-material benefits such as cultural identity, aesthetic values, and spiritual meanings associated with ecosystems. Her work is referenced in the Wikipedia article Ecosystem services.[3]
Transdisciplinary research
A second major strand of Penker’s work focuses on transdisciplinary and participatory research. She has led and contributed to projects that integrate scientific and societal knowledge through methods such as scenario planning, participatory vulnerability analysis, and serious games. [citation needed]
She is a co-author of the GAIA framework for transdisciplinary research, which provides guidance on when, why, and how to integrate different types of stakeholder knowledge in sustainability research. She has also co-developed formative assessment methods to reflect on differing expectations and goals among academic and non-academic participants in transdisciplinary collaborations.[4]
Policy advice and societal engagement
Based on her expertise in food systems and sustainability governance, Penker serves on the Scientific Council of AREPO (Association of European Regions for Products of Origin).
She contributed to a Scientific Advice for Policy by European Academies (SAPEA) report on sustainable food systems, commissioned by the European Commission. This report informed the Scientific Opinion of the European Commission’s Group of Chief Scientific Advisors and contributed to the development of the European Union’s Farm to Fork Strategy. Penker presented key findings from this work at the European Parliament.[5]
Academic service
Penker is a member of the Editorial Board of the Nature Palgrave Communications collection Expertise in integration and implementation for transformative research.
She chairs the UNESCO Man and the Biosphere (MAB) National Committee at the Austrian Academy of Sciences and co-chairs the Working Group on Socio-Ecological Transformation at Climate Change Centre Austria. She previously chaired the international book series Society and Natural Resources (University Press of Colorado and Utah State University Press).
Her academic service includes roles as an institutional evaluator and as a member of recruitment, promotion, and evaluation committees for universities and research funding programmes in several European countries.[6]
International collaboration
Penker has participated in international research collaborations across Europe, North America, Asia, and Oceania, including comparative studies on place-based food systems and land-use change.
She has maintained long-standing research collaborations with Japanese universities and was a visiting researcher at Nagoya University in early 2020. She has also co-organised international conferences, including the IASC Food Commons Conference and the EuroMAB Conference.[7]
Publications
Penker has authored and co-authored numerous peer-reviewed journal articles, book chapters, and edited volumes in the fields of rural sociology, sustainability science, and environmental governance. Her publications are widely cited, as documented in her Google Scholar profile.[8]
References
- ↑ "Marianne Penker". University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna.
- ↑ Penker, Marianne. Missing or empty
|title=(help) - ↑ Penker, Marianne. Missing or empty
|title=(help) - ↑ GAIA. Missing or empty
|title=(help) - ↑ (Report). SAPEA. Missing or empty
|title=(help) - ↑ Empty citation (help)
- ↑ Empty citation (help)
- ↑ "Google Scholar – Marianne Penker".
External links
- University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna profile
- Marianne Penker publications indexed by Google Scholar
- Wikidata item
This article "Marianne Penker" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Marianne Penker. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.
