Ecologist and philosopher

How can we live good lives in the future? My work revolves around this question. It touches science and ethics, social research and utopian thinking, activism and art.

At the current time I focus on research. I’m working on an article on the function of the imagination in environmental ethics. I’m also preparing a project on sustainability potentials in the cultural sector.

Recent publications

Ecotopianism: Towards a philosophical conception, in the anthology Greentopia: Utopian thought in the anthropocene, edited by Angela Kallhoff et al., The International Library of Environmental, Agricultural and Food Ethics, Springer (forthcoming) ➜

Eco-authoritarianism and the German constitution: Questions, concepts, and resilience, by Michael Kalis & Philipp P. Thapa, in the journal Die Friedens-Warte (2022) ➜

Social innovation for biodiversity: A literature review and research challenges, by Rafael Ziegler, Josephine Balzac-Arroyo, Rick Hölsgens, Sarah Holzgreve, Fergus Lyon, Joachim H. Spangenberg & Philipp P. Thapa, in the journal Ecological Economics (2022) ➜

Special issue on utopising in the journal Ökologisches Wirtschaften, edited by my GETIDOS colleague Jana Gebauer and me. It includes two essays that we wrote together (in German). Some of the other contributions are in English. (2021) ➜

Current teaching

Ethics in Sustainable Development, compact course in the MSc programme Renewable Energy Engineering and Management, University of Freiburg, June 2023

Is the 1.5-degree target still realistic? The function of education for sustainable development in dealing with the effects of climate change: Analysis and evaluation of the views of leaders in non-formal education using the Delphi method, by Kim Lüdtke, MSc thesis in Environment, Nature Conservation, and Sustainability Education, supervised beside Stefan Zerbe, University of Hildesheim, 2022/23

Affiliations

Research lead in the EU project The Big Green (6/2023–5/2027), funded through the Creative Europe programme

Fellow and project staff (The Big Green) – Sustainable Europe Research Institute (SERI) ➜

Coordinator of the social-ecological research platform GETIDOS, hosted by the Institute for Climate Protection, Energy, and Mobility (IKEM) ➜

PhD researcher – Institute for Science in Society, Radboud Universiteit ➜

Visiting instructor in ethics in sustainable development, University of Freiburg ➜

Regional President Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania – German Writers Association (VS) ➜