Florian Kern

Florian Kern is head of the research group ecological economics and environmental policy at the Institute for Ecological Economy Research based in Berlin, Germany. He also coordinates the Institute’s crosscutting themes ’Innovation and Technology’ and ‘Environmental Policy and Governance’. He is an internationally recognised expert in the field of sustainability transitions and has more than 19 years of experience of researching, teaching and consulting on processes of sustainability transitions. His work focusses on the dynamics of transitions, the different actors and governance processes involved, and the policy mixes which can be used to stimulate, accelerate and influence the direction of sustainability transitions. Empirically, he has worked on energy, food and mobility systems as well as issues around biodiversity and circular economy. He has published widely on policy mixes for sustainability transitions, as well as the politics and governance of transitions. His work is highly cited within the academic field of sustainability transitions and beyond (12,397 citations on google scholar; h index of 43 as of July 2024).

He has been a member of the steering group of the international Sustainability Transition Research Network (STRN) since 2015 and has been elected as chair of the network in 2024. Between 2017 and 2023 Dr Kern was a co-editor of Research Policy.

Prior to joining the IÖW Dr Kern was based at Science Policy Research Unit (SPRU), University of Sussex, UK (2005- 2018). He holds a DPhil in Science and Technology Policy Studies from the University of Sussex (2010).