Désirée Schwindenhammer

Désirée Schwindenhammer

Désirée Schwindenhammer

Programme Area Manager PA3

Programme Area: Programme Area 3 – Coastal Transformation

+49 (0)421 23800 - 139

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Office: Fahrenheitstr. 8
28359 Bremen
Room: 3102 (1st floor)

Research interests

With a background in sociology, social psychology, and environmental governance, my research interests center around power, institutions, and "blue justice" in coastal governance. I'm especially interested to explore the role of discourses in power and institutional dynamics from a critical institutionalism lens, and to participate in advancing analytical frameworks that incorporate critical theory into institutional studies. My methodological focus lies in qualitative interviews and content analyses.

I'm pursuing a doctoral degree with University of Freiburg. My dissertation focuses on coastal governance at the intersection of marine conservation, local livelihoods, and blue growth, with empirical focus on marine protected areas and coastal tourism in Tanzania.

Current projects and engagement

Past projects at ZMT

  • SoNG Support Project (Supporting the Integrated and Effective Management of the SoNG MPA) in Bangladesh, 2024-2025 (Coordinator)
  • NeDiT (New Digital Technologies for Marine Biodiversity Data Handling in East Africa – Data Linking People) in Tanzania, 2018-2022 (Master thesis)

Publications

IASC-ECN Power Collective, Schwindenhammer, D., Suresh, L., Gautam, T. P., Unnikrishnan, H., Dehmel, N., Hackmann, V., & Gerullis, M. (2026). Toward Making Power More Explicit in the IADF: A Review and Diagnostic Approach to Power Theories. International Journal of the Commons, 20(1), 414-432. DOI: 10.5334/ijc.1595

Dahlet, L., Borges, R., Fouqueray, M., Schwindenhammer, D., Govender, M., Juma, G. A., & von Ahn, C. E. (2026). From the Tropics to the Poles: Reflections of Early Career Marine Researchers About Fieldwork. Ocean and Society, 3, 12837. DOI: 10.17645/oas.12837

Schwindenhammer, D., Glaser, M., Reuter, H., Das, J., Paul, S., Heitmann, T., Lahl, R., & Kegler, H. (2026). Training Manual: Responsible & Evidence-Informed MPA Management for Decision-Makers in Bangladesh. Zenodo, 31 pp. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20508126

Schwindenhammer, D., Francis, J., Gudka, M., Kegler, H., Muhando, C., Reuter, H., George, R., Wambiji, N. & Schlüter, A. (2022). Paradox incentive structures and rules governing sharing of coastal and marine data in Kenya and Tanzania: Lessons for the Western Indian Ocean. Western Indian Ocean Journal of Marine Science, (1/2022), 33-46. https://doi.org/10.4314/wiojms.si2022.1.3

Schwindenhammer, D., Kegler, H., Reuter, H., Muhando, C., Msagameno, D., Rushingisha, G., Tuda, A., Mwangi, T., & Obura, D. (2021). Fostering Marine Biodiversity Data Sharing for Decision-Making in the Western Indian Ocean Region (Policy Brief 2021/1). DOI: 10.21244/zmt.2021.001 

 

Links

https://www.linkedin.com/in/desiree-schwindenhammer/

https://orcid.org/my-orcid?orcid=0000-0003-3606-2310

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Desiree-Schwindenhammer