Dr. Cornelia Hett

Areas of professional focus at CDE

• Land change sciences: I study patterns and processes at the landscape level caused by ecological and anthropogenic drivers. I also investigate the impacts and outcomes of changes in the socio-ecological system, particularly implications of large scale land acquisitions on rural livelihoods in developing countries.
• Agro-biodiversity: I focus on lived-in landscapes and investigate the interlinkage of people with their environment through agricultural activities – what genetic resources, management systems and practices are used by culturally diverse peoples? What are the major causes of agro-biodiversity loss and the implications on local livelihoods? What are the linkages of agro-biodiversity and human nutrition.
• Transdisciplinary research methods: I work at the interface between science, practice and policy decision-making. In this space I employ different forms of multi-stakeholder consultation processes in order to foster the co-production of knowledge and solutions to sustainability problems.
• Working with spatially explicit and big datasets: With a background in geography and computer sciences I have a fondness for spatially explicit analysis and utilizing large datasets to explore problems related to land resources.

Projects

• The Agro-Biodiversity Initiative - TABI supports the conservation and sustainable economic use of agro-biodiversity in Lao PDR project for Smallholder Agricultural-market. See: http://www.tabi.la/ and https://www.phakhaolao.la/en/home
• Scaling-up SLM by smallholder farmers - Cambodia, Lao PDR, and Uganda: https://www.wocat.net/en/projects-and-countries/projects/scaling-sustainable-land-management-practices-smallholder-farmers-cambodia-lao-pdr-and-uganda
• Lao DECIDE Info - an initiative that strives to improve access to key data and information for development planning and well-informed decision-making in the Lao PDR. See: https://www.k4d.la/

​Further professional interests

• Teaching and capacity building: I enjoy being active in adult education and sharing my knowledge with students across the spectrum of academic levels and topical focus.
• The interface of science-policy-practice: I work at this interface with changing roles – once it is as researcher, other times as project coordinator of development projects, at other times it is as scientific adviser for political decision-makers. I am passionate about nurturing this interface and getting inspired by it.
• Linking sustainability into the sectors of economy and finance. I see these linkages as necessary in order to bring impact for sustainable behaviour to scale.

Field experience

Laos, Kenya, Madagascar, Vietnam, Thailand, Costa Rica, USA, Germany

Languages

German, English, French, Spanish, Lao