Michael Link studied Environmental Sciences at the University of California at Berkeley (USA) and Geography at the University of Kiel, Germany. In his Diploma thesis he assessed the potential risks of oil spills in the North Sea arising from ship accidents based on an analysis of the Amoco Cadiz and Pallas incidents.

Michael’s Ph.D. research involved an assessment of the economic impacts that a weakening or a shutdown of the Atlantic thermohaline circulation would have on the fisheries in the Barents Sea by means of bioeconomic modeling. In his Ph.D. thesis he also analyzed the overall socioeconomic impacts of a THC shutdown using the integrated assessment model FUND. His work was part of the research project INTEGRATION. Michael has also graduated from the International Max-Planck Research School on Earth System Modelling in Hamburg.

Recent research as part of the research projects CIRCE and TranSust.Scan involved modeling the implications of land use changes on a European and local level. Further work included the expansion and improvement of the fisheries model developed in the Ph.D. research. Current research focuses on the inclusion of security-related aspects in models exploring the impacts of climate change with a geographic emphasis on the Nile River basin and the coupling of optimization models with Geographic Information Systems.

Last update: May 08, 2012