Dr. Grit Martinez

Dr. Grit Martinez is Senior Fellow at Ecologic Institute in Berlin and Associated Research Professor at the Department of Anthropology in the College of Behavioral Social Sciences at the University of Maryland (U.S.). With academic roots in the humanities and social science (history, German language & literature and economics), her research interests lies in social processes leading to sustainable transformations in natural systems with a specific interest in worldwide coastal zones. Dr. Martinez works especially on perceptions, knowledge and practices of mitigation and adaptation to climate change and the emergence of resiliency combining cultural, ecological, political, economic, and institutional contexts. She also focuses on the collaboration between the humanities, social and natural sciences in global change research. She is a native German speaker, with fluency in English and Spanish.

Dr. Martinez held a distinguished position in the research program of the German Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) Managing Climate Change in the Regions for the Future, where she was the scientific coordinator of the five-year project Regional Adaptation Strategies for the German Baltic Sea Coast (RADOST). Through the implementation of climate adaptation measures with local partners, the RADOST project illustrated social opportunities of innovative responses to climate change. Dr. Grit Martinez was also a member of the selection committee of the BMBF’s funding concept FONA "City of the Future – Climate Resilience in City and Regions". She also contributes to the expert roundtable discussion of the German Future Earth Committee's Working Group Societal resilience and climate extremes.

Dr. Martinez has led and is leading work packages in several EU-funded research projects of the European Commission, such as the Directorate-General for Research and Innovation, the Directorate-General for Climate Action (DG Climate), the Baltic Sea Research and Development Programme (BONUS) and JPI Climate. Her projects include Innovation in Climate Service Provision (INNOVA), Reducing nutrient loadings from agricultural soils to the Baltic Sea via groundwaters and streams (SOILS2SEA), Resilience-Increasing Strategies for Coasts – Tool Kit (RISC-KIT), Bottom Up Adaptation Strategies throughout Europe (BASE) and Environmental Technologies Training and Awareness-Raising in the Transport Sector (ETTAR).

Dr. Martinez has considerable moderation experience and has facilitated numerous dialogues with members of civil society, businesses and policy makers.

She is an Associated Research Professor at the Department of Anthropology at the University of Maryland and a member of the faculty of Ecologic Institute at Duke University's Berlin program where she teaches the course, Environmental Policy in Europe. She is also a mentor for American young professionals in the transatlantic program of the Robert Bosch Foundation Fellowship Program, for young climate experts from developing countries in the International Climate Protection Fellowships of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, and for undergraduates in the Deans' Summer Research Fellowships of Duke University.