Dr M. Kaufmann (Maria)

Maria is Assistant Professor at Radboud University Nijmegen and conducts international comparative research in the fields of climate change adaptation, energy transition/climate mitigation, alternative economic systems (e.g. degrowth).

With her research she aims to critically contribute to the ‘justice turn’ in sustainability transformations by analyzing the role of justice discourses in explaining sustainability transformations (e.g., Thaler & Kaufmann 2024; Veenman & Kaufmann 2025; Veenman & Kaufmann, 2025); assessing how current governance approaches and instruments (re)produce or alleviate injustices (e.g., Kaufmann et al. 2018, 2023); and investigating how alternative economic discourses can contribute to just transformations (e.g. Alenda-Demoutiez & Kaufmann, 2024; Kommandeur et al. 2025).

Maria is co-coordinator of the Research HotSpot TransAct (Transformation for Sustainability in Action) at the Institute for Management Research (IMR), Radboud University. In this role, she collaboratively shapes research on sustainability transformations within IMR. In recognition of these contributions, she was awarded ‘IMR Researcher of the Year’ in 2024 (together with Juliette Alenda-Demoutiez).

Her research has been published in leading multidisciplinary journals such as Global Environmental Change, Regional Environmental Change, Journal of Environmental Management, Land Use Policy or Ecology and Society.

At the Radboud University (Department: Geography, Planning and Environment) she is involved in various teaching activities at Bachelor and Master level: Globalising Worlds (BA-level course), Environmental Justice (MA-level course), supervision of bachelor and master theses, etc. She has been awarded (Junior) Docent of the Year, in 2023.