Prof. Dr. Silke Beck

Academic Career and Research Areas

Prof. Beck‘s research focuses on interfaces between science and society. She is a pioneer in analyzing environmental assessments such as the IPCC. Her research also contributes to build up and reform global assessments such as IPBES. Current projects deal with evidence-based policymaking as well as the governance of socio-technical transformations in the field of Negative Emission Technologies, biodiversity and digitalization.

Beck has Magistra Artium in Political Science/ Germanistik (University of Heidelberg) and doctorate (Dr.rer.soc.) from the University of Bielefeld. After an academic year (Harvard University), she worked for 20 years in the field of technology assessment and interdisciplinary environmental research. 2020, she was nominated as lead expert for the IPBES assessment of transformative change. Since 2021, she is professor at TU Munich and since 2022, she leads the chair of Sociology of science and technology.

Awards

• Chair of Sociology of Science and Technology, TU Munich (2022)
• Call for the W3-Professorship Environmental Sociology, University of Augsburg (2021)
• UFZ-Knowledge Transfer Prize, Germany (2020)
• Acting Chair of Department of Environmental Politics, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ Leipzig (2005-2021)
• NSF Fellowship for the Academic Year, Harvard University (1999)