Sophia Rottmann

Biography

Sophia Rottmann works centrally within an implementation project in RD2 and researches on climate change and migration at PIK. She is involved in a Demonstrator on Micro-insurance for small holder farmers in East Africa within the EU-funded H2020 Insurance Consortium. Through close partnership with local insurance and agronomic management stakeholders in Kenya and Tanzania, this project aims at implementing PIK's yield loss assessment tools for insurance purposes in East Africa in order to increase both quality and accessibility of such products in the region. All the while, it aims at improvement of farming methods and subsequently income for small holder farmers. Furthermore, she is involved in a research project that inspects how climate impacts on migration in the Sahel region. In a case study herein, she qualitatively examines how farmers in Burkina Faso migrate seasonally to neighboring Ivory Coast and Mali in order to account for the dwindling growing season at home. Sophia's background lies in Development Studies (BA) (University College Maastricht) and Migration and Diaspora Studies (MA) (School of Oriental and African Studies, London), where she specifically studied the relationship between climate change and migration. During field research for her Master thesis in her maternal home Tanzania, she observed the enhancing pressure that climate variability puts on small holder farmers. Through her work at PIK, she aims to contribute to long-term adaptation solutions and improvement of livelihoods for small holder farmers as well as other disadvantaged groups in Sub-Saharan Africa, especially through support and engagement with existing local platforms.

Research Interest

Project coordination of micro-insurance for small holder farmers in East Africa, research on migration and climate change(Research Area: Regional Impacts and Adaptation Strategies)