Lisa Murken is an agricultural economist and co-lead of the working group Adaptation in Agricultural Systems. Her research focuses on socio-economic impacts of climate change and adaptation solutions in low- and middle-income countries.
Contact
14412 Potsdam
ORCID
Lisa studied International Relations at the Technical University of Dresden and the University of Nice - Sophia Antipolis (BA) and holds an MSc in Environment and Development from the London School of Economics and Political Science. In her doctoral dissertation in agricultural economics, completed at PIK and the University of Kassel (02/2023), she analyzed the effects of different land tenure modalities on farmers' resilience to climate change in sub-Saharan Africa, using methods from econometrics and environmental psychology. Her PhD was funded by the German National Academic Foundation. Prior to joining PIK, she worked as a consultant for disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation at the UN Food and Agriculture Organization.
In my research, I focus on the intersection of development economics, agricultural- and climate science. The aim is to analyze policy-relevant issues using modern quantitative methods, in order to identify causal relationships. For this purpose, I use experimental and quasi-experimental approaches, often based on primary household data collected by our team and partners in the field. A particular goal is to bridge different time horizons in applied climate impact and adaptation research, to identify adaptation strategies that work under current and future conditions. Thematic areas of interest include:
- Land tenure, land conflicts and local commons
- Household resilience and adaptation to climate change
- Adaptation effectiveness
- Seasonality of agricultural livelihoods and climate impacts
Work in progress (selected):
Pulkkinen, K., Undorf, S., Gornott, C. and Murken, L. Burden of proof in climate change adaptation finance (under review)
Murken, L., Kraehnert, K., van den Broek, K., Adriko, J. & Gornott, C.. The Role of Tenure Security in
Farmers’ Decision-Making on Investment in Improved Seeds: Insights from Mental Models. Ruhr Economic
Papers, http://doi.org/10.4419/96973237 (under review)
Maskell, G., Shukla, R., Murken, L., Nguyen, T.T., Weituschat, C.S. & Gornott, C.. Clarifying household-level
determinants and outcomes of adaptive capacity in Vietnam’s coffee growing region (under review)
Peer-reviewed publications:
Murken, L.*, Tomalka, J.*, Abigaba, D., Amoah, A.-B., Amougou, J.A., Anaba, M., Arumugam, P., Awori, E., Baek, H.-R.L., Below, T., Cartsburg, M., Chemura, A., Cronauer, C., Didovets, I., Gizaw, A.W., Gleixner, S., Gloy, N., Grams, E., Habtemariam, L., Hampf, A., Hauf, Y., Heckmann, T., Ibrahim, B., Jansen, L., Jarawura, F., Kagonbé, T., Kaufmann, J., Kephe, P., Klockemann, L., Lange, S., Laudien, R., Liersch, S., Lipka, N., Lüttringhaus, S., Neer, S., Neya, O., Noleppa, S., Ostberg, S., Pollig, J., Romanovska, P., Röhrig, F., Schauberger, B., Shukla, R., Staubach, L., Tchindjang, M., Undorf, S., Vetter, R., von Loeben, S., von Stechow, C., von Witzke, K., Weituschat, C.S., Wortmann, M., Yalew, A.W., Zouh, I., Gornott, C. (2024). The need for evidence-based climate risk and adaptation assessments: Lessons learned from the AGRICA project. Environmental Research Letters, https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ad50eb; * Shared first authorship [Viewpoint]
Murken, L., Mager, G., Laudien, R., Kraehnert, K. & Gornott, C. (2024). The impact of weather risk on tenure security – Evidence from smallholder farmers in Tanzania. Land Economics,
Murken, L., Kraehnert, K. & Gornott, C. (2024). Is this land for sale? The effects of drought on land ownership in Uganda. Ecological Economics, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2023.108095
Murken, L. & Gornott, C. (2022). The importance of different land tenure systems for farmers' response to climate change: a systematic review. Climate Risk Management, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.crm.2022.100419
Siderius, C., Conway, D., Yassine, M., Murken, L., Lostis, P., & Dalin, C. (2020). Multi-scale analysis of the Water-Energy-Food Nexus in the Arabian Gulf region. Environmental Research Letters 15, https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ab8a86
Book chapters:
Hampf, A., Murken, L., Gornott, C. (2024): Zukunftssicher durch Anpassung? Die Rolle klimaresilienter Sorten in der Landwirtschaft. - In: Warnsignal Klima: Wetterextreme schlagen zu - sie werden länger, häufiger & stärker, Hamburg : Wissenschaftliche Auswertungen.
von Loeben, S., Murken, L., Lombardi, N. & Baas, S. (2021): Evaluating Costs and Benefits of Farm-Level Disaster and Climate Risk Management Good Practices. - In: Leal Filho, W., Luetz, J., Ayal, D. (Eds.), Handbook of Climate Change Management, Cham : Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-22759-3299-1
Policy reports & other:
Tomalka, J., Hunecke, C., Murken, L., Heckmann, T., Cronauer, C., Becker, R., Collignon, Q., Collins-Sowah, P., Crawford, M., Gloy, N., Hampf, A., Lotze-Campen, H., Malevolti, G., Maskell, G., Müller, C., Popp, A., Vodounhessi, M., Gornott, C., Rockström, J. (2024). Stepping back from the precipice: Transforming land management to stay within planetary boundaries. Potsdam, Germany: Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. DOI: https://doi.org/10.48485/pik.2024.018.
AGRICA Climate Risk Analyses:
- Ghana (2019): https://doi.org/10.2312/pik.2020.001 (as lead author)
- Ethiopia (2020): https://doi.org/10.2312/pik.2020.003 (as lead author)
- Ghana sub-national (2021): https://doi.org/10.48485/pik.2021.001 (as co-author)
- Burkina Faso (2021): https://doi.org/10.48485/pik.2022.001 (as co-author)
- Niger (2021): https://doi.org/10.48485/pik.2022.002 (as co-author)
- Uganda (2023): https://doi.org/10.48485/pik.2023.021 (as co-author)
- Madagascar (2024): https://doi.org/10.48485/pik.2024.005 (as co-author)
Siderius, C., Conway, D., Yassine, M., Murken, L. & Lostis, P. (2019). Characterising the water-energy-food nexus in Kuwait and the Gulf region. LSE Middle East Centre Paper Series (28). Middle East Centre, LSE, London, UK. https://eprints.lse.ac.uk/102852/
FAO (2019). Disaster risk reduction at farm level: Multiple benefits, no regrets. Rome.160 pp. Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO, (Lombardi, N., Murken, L., von Loeben, S. & Baas, S.)
PACO: https://www.pik-potsdam.de/en/output/projects/all/1011
DecLaRe: https://www.pik-potsdam.de/en/output/projects/all/949
AgrImpact: https://www.pik-potsdam.de/en/output/projects/all/974
CentraLand: https://www.pik-potsdam.de/en/output/projects/all/1021
SCARF: https://www.pik-potsdam.de/en/output/projects/all/950
- Hermann Eiselen Science Award 2024
- PhD Scholarship of the German National Academic Foundation, 08/2020 - 12/2022
- Carlo-Schmid Fellowship awarded by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), 09/2017 - 03/2018
- MSc Environment and Development Best Overall Performance Prize (awarded by the London School of Economics and Political Science, Department of Geography & Environment), 11/2017
- Study scholarship of the German National Academic Foundation, 07/2013 - 08/2017
