PhD Projects

Urbanization, Post-earthquake Reconstruction and Land Property Relations in Qinghai Province, China (2023)

Promotion committee:

Benedikt Korf (Prof., Dept. of Geography, University of Zurich)

Norman Backhaus (Prof., Dept. of Geography, University of Zurich)

Emily Yeh (Prof., Dept. of Geography, University of Colorado at Boulder)

Who is the Threat? Goldmining Regulation and Citizenship in Colombia (2022)

Promotion committee:

Benedikt Korf (Prof., Dept. of Geography, University of Zurich)

Timothy Raeymaekers (Prof. habil., Dept. of Geography, University of Zurich)

Muriel Côte (Dr., Dept. of Human Geography, University of Lund)

Christian Berndt (Prof., Dept. of Geography, University of Zurich)

Gabriela Valdivia (Prof., Dept of Geography, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)

Imaginative Geographies of Veddhaness in the Margins of Post-War Sri Lanka. 2021 Zora

Promotion committee: 

Benedikt Korf (Prof., Dept. of Geography, University of Zurich)

Ulrike Müller-Böker (Prof., Dept. of Geography, University of Zurich)

Jonathan Spencer (Prof., Dept. of Anthropology, University of Edinburgh)

Rajesh Venugopal (Dr., Dept. of International Development, London School of Economics and Political Science)

"Fifty-Fifty": Identity Politics, Negotiations and Transformations in Paanama, Sri Lanka. 2021. Zora

Promotion committee:

Benedikt Korf (Prof. Dept of Geography, University of Zurich) 

Norman Backhaus (Prof. Dept of Geography, University of Zurich) 

Spencer, Jonathan (Prof. Dept. of Anthropology, University of Edinburgh, UK) 

Sharika Thiranagama (Prof. Dept. of Anthropology, Stanford University)

Central Margins: Sri Lanka’s Violent Frontier. 2019.

Promotion committee: 

Benedikt Korf (Prof. Dept of Geography, University of Zurich) 

Norman Backhaus (Prof. Dept of Geography, University of Zurich) 

Spencer, Jonathan (Prof. Dept. of Anthropology, University of Edinburgh, UK) 

Randeria, Shalini (Prof. Dept. of Anthropology, The Graduate Institute of International and Development  Studies, Geneva) 

Conflict Minerals, Inc. - Transnational Regulation, Fragmented Authority and Violent Resource Networks in Eastern Congo. 2018. Zora

Promotion committee:

Benedikt Korf (Prof., Dept. of Geography, University of Zürich)

Timothy Raeymaekers (Dr., Dept. of Geography, University of Zürich)

Christian Berndt (Prof., Dept. of Geography, University of Zürich)

Koen Vlassenroot (Prof., Conflict Research Group, University of Gent)

Bartmess, Jennifer

Empty Enough: Indigenous Communal Land Titling in the Oil Palm Frontier of Sabah, Malaysia. 2017. Zora

Promotion committee:

Benedikt Korf (Prof., Dept. of Geography, University of Zürich)

Norman Backhaus (Prof., Dept. of Geography, University of Zürich)

Christian Lund (Prof., Dept. of food and agriculture, University of Copenhagen)

Becoming a Contender: Legitimacy, Authority and the Power of "Making Do" in Nepal's Permanent Transition. 2015.
Promotion committee:
Benedikt Korf (Prof., Dept. of Geography, University of Zurich)

Ulrike Müller-Böker (Prof., Dept. of Geography, University of Zurich)

Andrea Nightingale (Prof., Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences)

Writing Space and Time: An Ethnography of State Sedimentation in the Ethiopian Somali Frontier. 2016. Zora

Promotion committee:

Timothy Raeymaekers (Dr., Dept. of Geography, University of Zurich)

Benedikt Korf (Prof., Dept. of Geography, University of Zürich)

Tobias Hagmann (Dr., Department of Society and Globalisation, University of Roskilde)

Violent Transformations: Nature Conservation, Forced Displacement, and Captalist Expansion in North Kivu, DRC. 2016.

Promotion committee:

Benedikt Korf (Prof., Dept. of Geography, University of Zurich)

Timothy Raeymaekers (Dr., Dept. of Geography, University of Zurich)

Christian Berndt (Prof., Dept. of Geography, University of Zurich)

The Paradox of Good Intentions: The Biography  of private Giving in Post-Tusnami Sri Lanka. 2014. Zora

Promotion committee:

Benedikt Korf (Prof., Dept. of Geography, University of Zurich)

Urs Geiser (Dr., Dept. of Geography, University of Zurich)

Christoph Uehlinger (Prof., University of Zurich)

Jonathan Spencer (Prof., Dept. of Anthropology, University of Edinburgh)

Living on the Border. the Catholic Church and the War in Northern Sri Lanka. 2016.

Promotion committee:

Benedikt Korf (Prof., Dept. of Geography, University of Zurich)

Jonathan Spencer (Prof., Dept. of Anthropology, University of Edinburgh)

In the Wake of War. The Political Geography of Transition in Eastern Sri Lanka. 2012. Zora

Promotion committee:

Benedikt Korf (Prof., Dept. of Geography, University of Zurich)

Urs Geiser (Dr., Dept. of Geography, University of Zurich)

Georg Frerks (Prof., University of Utrecht)

Jonathan Spencer (Prof., Dept. of Anthropology, University of Edinburgh)

The Grand Illusion? Corporate Social Responsibility in Global Garment Production Networks. 2010. Zora

Promotion committee:

Boris Braun (Prof., University of Cologne)

Markus Hassler (Prof., Philipps-University, Marburg)

Benedikt Korf (Prof., Dept. of Geography, University of Zurich)

Werte, Wandel und Raum: theoretische Grundlagen und empirische Evidenzen zum Wandel regionaler Mentalität in der Schweiz. 2006. Zora

Promotion committee:

Kurt Brassel (Prof., Dept. of Geography, University of Zurich)

Hans Elsasser (Prof., Dept. of Geography, University of Zurich)

Michael Vester (Prof., Political Science Dept., Leibniz University Hannover)