I am Julia Schöneberg. My main research interests are development theory and policy, sustainability and socio-economic transformations, global governance and north-south relations, post- and decolonial perspectives, as well as questions of knowledge production and epistemology. With my engagements I seek to explore concrete alternative and sustainable (re)forms of (co-)living, producing and consuming. This requires moving along disciplinary boundaries and exploring the intersections of, among others, international relations, development studies, global political economy, climate research and environmental governance, gender studies, sociology, and post- and decolonial studies.  Currently, I am a Post-Doctoral Researcher at the University of Kassel’s Department for Development and Postcolonial Studies.

For me, research is discovery work, which is never neutral, but always socially relevant. I am convinced that there is no way to research “development”, global injustices and inequalities without clear positioning, taking a stand and taking sides. For that reason, I  attempt to put my research into practice and vice versa. I am the co-founder of www.convivialthinking.org, a platform and collective seeking to surpass boundaries of origin, ethnicity, professional affiliation and academic disciplines in order to give space to inclusive, interdisciplinary and alternative approaches towards mainstream methods of knowledge production, especially in the context of “development”. In my local community I am involved in two initatives: the foodsharing movement, which seeks to save and redistribute surplus food and groceries; as well as düsseldorf postkolonial, a group of people campaigning for a comprehensive culture of restorative justice and remembrance of the colonial past and its legacy.