Johanna Koehler

Johanna Koehler is Assistant Professor of Environmental Risk Governance in the Public Administration and Policy Group at Wageningen University and Honorary Research Associate at the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment, University of Oxford. Her research interests include the governance of sustainability transformations, especially with regard to innovations in water services, and the governance of hydroclimatic extreme events. She investigates how risks and responsibilities can be re-conceptualised and re-allocated in pluralist governance arrangements between the state, market, and communities. Theoretically, her work advances institutional theory of risk; methodologically, she uses qualitative and quantitative methods, including experiments, to understand social and institutional behaviours with regard to environmental governance, working with governments, the private sector, and end users.

As a VENI Laureate from the Dutch Research Council's Talent Scheme (NWO), she works on her RiskPOOL project, which examines risk-pooling and institutional innovation in sustainable water service transitions across the Global South and North. She currently co-supervises PhD students at Wageningen, Amsterdam, and Oxford, including on the PerfectSTORM project (storylines of future extremes), NEWAVE (next water governance), and the REACH programme on water security.