Michael Hauser
Assoc. Prof. Dipl.-Ing. Dr. Michael Hauser
Institute for Development Research
Email michael.hauser@boku.ac.at
Tel: +43 1 47654-93415
Research Focus
Since the beginning of my scientific career, I have been interested in how to develop design principles for transitions to sustainable land use that respect planetary boundaries and enable well-being for everyone.
My current research now examines how people and their organizations manage complex risks in agricultural and food systems. The focus of my research is on analysing events that can lead into and out of humanitarian crises. In addition, I examine the barriers to adaptation to climate and environmental change and identify psychological and institutional factors that promote cooperative behavior in times of crisis. I also research those deep changes in social systems that support building resilience and system transformation.
A central goal of my work is to develop tools and counselling approaches that enable people to safely navigate complex transitions in nature and society. These find applications in humanitarian aid, the restoration of degraded ecosystems, the integration of internally displaced persons and host communities, and the scaling of sustainable agriculture, agroforestry and rangeland management in fragile systems.
My work contributes to a broader scientific agenda aimed at understanding the relationships between fragility and social change.
Career
- 2024 Associate Professor, BOKU University, Vienna
- 2023 Resarch Affiliate, Abdul Latif Jameel Water & Food Systems Lab, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge
- 2023 Senior Associate, World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF), Nairobi
- 2022 - 2023 Principal Scientist, International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Nairobi
- 2021 - 2022 Research Program Director (acting), Enabling Systems Transformation, International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Nairobi
- 2017 - 2021 Principal Scientist, Theme Leader MIND (Market, Institutions, Nutrition, Diversity), International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, Nairobi
- 2013 - 2014 Visiting Scientist, WorldFish, International Center for Living Aquatic Resources Management, Penang, MalaysiaVisiting Scientist, Penang, Malaysia
- 2009 - 2017 Director, Centre for Development Research (now Institute of Development Resaerch), BOKU University, Vienna
- 2006 Visiting Scientist, Kasetsart University, Bangkok
- 2005 Doctorate (Dr.nat.techn.), BOKU University, Vienna
- 2000 - 2009 Assistant Professor, Institute of Organic Farming, BOKU University
- 1999 Graduate Engineer (Dipl.-Ing.) in Agroecology (indiviudal degree protram at BOKU Vienna, the Universität of Vienna and the University of Reading)
Awards
- Year: 2023 Awards: MIT J-WAFS Water and Food Seed Grant
- Year: 2014 Awards: Preis der Wiener Vielfalt, Nominierung und Shortlist in der Kategorie „Wissenschaft“
- Year: 2012 Awards: BOKU Teaching Award 2012 (2. Preis)
- Year: 2010 Awards: Sustainability Award im Handlungsfeld Forschung - Auszeichnung der BOKU für das CDR
Projects
0 Projects found.
Publications
Knowledge Transfer to Society
Media
Lectures
Year: 2018 - Power and politics in agri-food sustainability transitions
Autoren: El Bilali, H; Hauser, M; Wurzinger, M; Melcher, A; Probst, L.
Event: 13th European IFSA Symposium 2018 - Farming systems: facing uncertainties and enhancing opportunities
Year: 2017 - Research on Transitions to Sustainable Agro-Food Sys- tems: Conceptual Insights and Research Needs from a Food and Nutrition Security Perspective
Autoren: El Bilali, H; Probst, L; Wurzinger, M; Hauser, M; Melcher, A
Event: Sozial-o?kologische Transformationen. Perspektiven o?sterreichischer Entwicklungsforschung.
Year: 2017 - Rural livelihood transitions: towards an integration of the Sustainable Livelihoods Approach and the Multi-Level Perspective
Autoren: El Bilali, H.; Hauser, M.; Berjan, S.; Miseckaite, O.; Probst, L.
Event: 8th International scientific conference Rural Development 2017
Year: 2017 - Alternative food systems: using space, time, integration and rules as narratives for sustainability transitions
Autoren: El Bilali, H; Hauser, M; Wurzinger, M; Probst, L
Event: Tropentag 2017
Year: 2015 - The new Agenda for Global Action: What it really takes to make agriculture more sustainable.
Autoren: Hauser, M
Event: Sustainable development: the concept of sustainability in relation to agriculture and food systems.
Year: 2015 - Innovation in family farming in Europe and Central Asia
Autoren: Hauser, M
Event: FAO, ECA Regional panel discussion
Year: 2014 - Habermas and the innovation platform: do multi- stakeholder interventions create communicative rationalities for innovation?
Autoren: Probst, L; Prehsler, S; Hauser, M
Event: System Innovation towards Sustainable Agriculture
Year: 2014 - Why universities must engage in transformative higher education to to leverage global food and nutrition security
Autoren: Hauser, M
Event: 2nd University Network for Tropical Agriculture Meeting, Kasetsart University
Year: 2014 - Organic agriculture’s triple challenge
Autoren: Hauser. M.
Event: Sustainably Food Secure: Organic Agriculture for the Vision 2040
Year: 2014 - Application of Scenario Planning in the Context of Rural Transformation: The Case of North West Ethiopia
Autoren: Gudeta, K. Braito, M., Penker, M., Wurzinger, M. Hauser, M.
Event: Tropentag 2014. Bridging the gap between increasing knowledge and decreasing resources
Year: 2014 - Transformative Change Towards Sustainable Livelihoods - Too Big for Development-oriented Research?
Autoren: Hauser, M
Event: Tropentag 2015 - Management of land use systems for enhanced food security - conflicts, controversies and resolutions
Year: 2014 - RUFORUM@10. Reflection on the five day event
Autoren: Hauser, M
Event: 4th RUFORUM Biennial Conference 2014
Year: 2014 - Complexity, resilience, and transformation of agriculture and food systems
Autoren: Hauser, M
Event: Systemic Risk in Global Agriculture Princeton-Columbia Joint Conference
Year: 2013 - Bowling together. Networks and Partnerships of Universities in the European Union
Autoren: Hauser, M.
Event: 6TH AFRICA AGRICULTURE SCIENCE WEEK & FARA GENERAL ASSEMBLY
Year: 2013 - Networking of Agricultural Universities: AGRINATURA as a European Union case
Autoren: Hauser, M
Event: Agriculture and Food Deans Meeting
Year: 2012 - Assessing the impact of social learning and social capital for the adoption of soil conservation innovations: a case study in Northern Ethiopia
Autoren: Yinager Dessie Belay, Hauser, M., Wurzinger, M.
Event: Tropentag 2012 - Resilience of agricultural systems against crises
Year: 2012 - Green Agriculture - sustainable land use as basis for food security
Autoren: Hauser, M.
Event: Green Economy 2012 - Aspects of sustainable land use in Africa
Year: 2012 - Millennium Development Goals and a Vision of a Future without Hunger (panel title),
Autoren: Hauser, M
Event: International CARITAS Conference 2012 - Future without Hunger
Year: 2011 - What is the role of research in value chain interventions for improved food security? Evidence from Mozambique, Uganda and Ghana
Autoren: Probst, L., Hauser, M., Nyamukure, B.
Event: Africa College International Conference on Food Security, Health and Impact 2011
Year: 2010 - Factors that foster innovation in urban cabbage production in Cotonou, Accra & Ouagadougou
Autoren: Probst, Lorenz; Adoukonou, Adélaïde; Amankwah, Akuffo; Diarra, Aly; Vogl, Christian R.; Hauser, Michael
Event: Tropentag 2010 - World Food System - A contribution from Europe
Year: 2010 - The youth of today will constitute the innovation ecology of tomorrow. A challenge for research and tertiary education
Autoren: Probst, L.; Hauser, M.
Event: International Scientific-Practical Conference: Youth for Ecological Progress.
Year: 2010 - Village Bylaws Strengthen the Sustainable management of Exclosures in the Drylands of Northern Ethiopia
Autoren: Mastewal Yami Degefa, Wolde Mekuria, Michael Hauser
Event: 8th Development Dialogue
Year: 2010 - Enabling Rural Innovation: Forschung an der Theorie-Praxis-Schnittstelle
Autoren: Hauser, M.
Event: Dialog Entwicklungsforschung 2010 – EZA-Praxis
Year: 2010 - The potentials of participatory video. Does participatory video enhance learning for local innovation?
Autoren: A. H. Chowdhury, M. Hauser
Event: Innovation and sustainable development in Agriculture and Food
Year: 2010 - The Enabling Rural Innovation Approach
Autoren: Hauser, M.
Event: Regional Conference 'Rural Development - Natural Resource Management'
Year: 2009 - Harvested Rainwater, water scarcity and income generation in rural domestic households
Autoren: Baguma D, Loiskandl W, Jung H, Hauser M
Event: WATER POLICY 2009, Joint Conference of APLU and ICA 2009 - Water as a Vulnerable and Exhaustible Resource
Year: 2009 - Communication for change: Participatory video supports local seed innovation in Bangladesh
Autoren: Chowdhury Ataharul Huq, Hauser Michael
Event: Innovation Asia Pacific Symposium 2009
Year: 2009 - Welternährung und Ökolandbau
Autoren: Hauser, Michael
Event: Entwicklungspolitischer Arbeitskreises der ÖH BOKU 2009
Year: 2009 - Power accelerates organizational innovation: the role of ‚Machtpromotoren‘ for institutionalizing development research at an Austrian University
Autoren: Hauser, M.
Event: Internationalisierung und entwicklungspolitische Dimensionen an Universitäten und Fachhochschulen 2009
Year: 2009 - Research for Development
Autoren: Loiskandl W, Hauser M,
Event: ÖAD-Tag Boku 2009
Year: 2009 - Assessment of scripted and script-less participatory video on usefulness of local seed innovation system in Bangladesh
Autoren: Chowdhury A.H, Hauser M.
Event: Innovation Asia Pacific Symposium 2009
Year: 2009 - Contribution of farmer-to-farmer video to food security: Evidence from Bangladesh
Autoren: Chowdhury A.H., Van Mele P., Hauser M.
Event: Tropentag, International Research on Food Security, Natural Resource Management and Rural Development 2009 - Biophysical and socio-economic frame conditions for the sustainable management of natural resources
Year: 2009 - Challenges to achieve systemic interaction under new institutional arrangements of an agricultural development project: A case study in Bangladesh
Autoren: Chowdhury A.H., Leeuwis C., Hauser M.
Event: 15th International Symposium on Society and Resource Management ISSRM 2009 - Meet old and new worlds in Research, Planning and Management
Year: 2009 - Comparing the effectiveness of informal and formal institutions in sustainable common pool resources management in sub Saharan Africa
Autoren: M. Y. Degefa, C.R. Vogl & M. Hauser
Event: Tropentag, International Research on Food Security, Natural Resource Management and Rural Development 2009 - Biophysical and socio-economic frame conditions for the sustainable management of natural resources
Year: 2008 - An Assessment of Livelihood Transitions Triggered through Conservation Agriculture in Different Vulnerable Productions Systems in Central Mozambique
Autoren: Nkala P., Njuki J., Hauser M.
Event: Tropentag 2008 - Competition for Resources in a Changing World: New Drive for Rural Development
Year: 2008 - Market Integration Shape Organic Farmers’ Organisation.
Autoren: Sultan, T., Mursal, A., Salem, S. G., Liu, Y., Oelofse, M., Knudsen M.T., El-Araby, A., Delve, R.J., Yuhiu, Q., Hauser, M., Kledal, P., Egelyng, H., Halberg, N.8 & Høgh-Jensen, H.
Event: 16th IFOAM Organic World Congress
Year: 2008 - Strategy on Organic Agriculture in the Austrian Development Co-operation.
Autoren: Hauser, M
Event: UN Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD-16)
Year: 2007 - Research for Development. About gods, warlords and misunderstandings between both
Autoren: Hauser, M.
Event: Arbeitsgruppe Armut der Austrian Development Agency ADA 2007
Year: 2007 - Using multi-stakeholders processes to improve a supply chain of a non-timber forest products (NTFP) in Lao PDR
Autoren: Ribeiro, M., Hauser, M.
Event: Tropentag 2007 - Utilisation of diversity in land use systems: Sustainable and organic approaches to meet human needs
Year: 2007 - Research for Development. About gods, warlords and misunderstandings between both.
Autoren: Hauser, M.
Event: Arbeitsgruppe Armut der Austrian Development Agency ADA 2007
Year: 2007 - Impact of irrigation on livelihood and food security in the modern Hare river irrigation scheme in Southern Ethiopia
Autoren: Judt, C; Loiskandl, W; Ruffeis, D; Hauser, M; Seleshi, B; Hagos, F
Event: International Symposium 2007- Impact of Irrigation on Rural Poverty and the Environment
Year: 2007 - Can organic farming contribute to a better livelihood of small-scale farmers?
Autoren: Hauser, M.
Event: Introd. to organic farming (BOKU LV)
Year: 2007 - Research for Development. About gods, warlords and misunderstandings between both.
Autoren: Hauser, M
Event: Arbeitsgruppe Armut der Austrian Development Agency ADA 2007
Year: 2007 - Commercialising Organic Agriculture. Does it Improve Household Food Security? A Case Study from South-Western Uganda
Autoren: Aigelsperger Lisa Hauser Michael Njuki Jemimah
Event: Tropentag 2007 - Utilisation of diversity in land use systems: Sustainable and organic approaches to meet human needs
Year: 2007 - Organic agriculture initiative, East Africa
Autoren: Hauser, M.
Event: Horizont 3000
Year: 2007 - Commercialising Organic Agriculture. Does it Improve Household Food Security? A Case Study from South-western Uganda
Autoren: Aigelsperger, L. Hauser, M., Njuki, J.
Event: Tropentag 2007 - Utilisation of diversity in land use systems: Sustainable and organic approaches to meet human needs
Year: 2007 - Extension services on organic agriculture, case of Study Costa Rica, Honduras y Nicaragua.
Autoren: Vildozo, L. & C. Vogl.& M. Hauser & E. Orantes
Event: Second Latin American and Caribbean congress of producers, experimenters and researchers in organic agriculture
Year: 2007 - Wealth, liveliood transitions and poverty in norther Lao PDR
Autoren: Leek, K., Hauser, M., White, D.
Event: Tropentag 2007 - Utilisation of diversity in land use systems: Sustainable and organic approaches to meet human needs
Year: 2006 - Can organic farming contribute to a better livelihood of small-scale farmers?
Autoren: Hauser, M., Walaga, C., Delve, R.
Event: Organic Agriculture in Development - the need for integrated production for food security
Year: 2006 - Food for all? Organic agriculture and the household food security equation in developing countries
Autoren: Hauser, M.
Event: 6th European Summer Academy on Organic Farming 2006
Year: 2006 - Enabling rural innovations through market-oriented organic agricultural extension
Autoren: Hauser, M.
Event: Rural poverty reduction through agricultural extension 2006
Year: 2006 - Changing the rules of the game: institutional innovation and change processes in organic agriculture
Autoren: Hauser, M. Delve, R., Ssebunya, B., Mulindwa J., Byandala S.
Event: Innovation Africa Symposium
Year: 2005 - Impact of irrigation development on poverty and environment
Autoren: Loiskandl W., Seleshi B., Ruffeis D., Schönerklee M., Spendlingwimmer R., Strauss-Sieberth A., Hauser M.,
Event: KEF MDG+5 Workshop 2005 - A critical look at the role of research in achieving the Millennium Development Goals
Year: 2005 - Organic farming catches up. Trends and prospects
Autoren: Hauser, M.
Event: Policy meeting on organic agriculture
Year: 2005 - Strengthening the Competitiveness of Organic Agriculture in Africa through Linking Farmers to Service Providers and Exporters
Autoren: Delve, R., Hauser, M., Ssebunya, B., Mulindwa, J., Byandala, S.
Event: Deutscher Tropentag 2005 - The Global Food & Product Chain – Dynamics, Innovations, Conflicts, Strategies
Year: 2005 - Organic farming for more sustainable production in developing countries
Autoren: Hauser, M.
Event: Globalisation: Threat or Opportunity for Organic Farming?
Year: 2005 - Impact of Irrigation development on rural poverty and the environment
Autoren: Loiskandl W., Seleshi B., Ruffeis D., Schönerklee M., Spendlingwimmer R., Strauss-Sieberth A., Hauser M.,
Event: Unknown
Year: 2005 - Strengthening competitiveness through research. How rural innovations support market-led organic agriculture in Uganda
Autoren: Delve, R., Hauser, M.
Event: KEF MDG+5 Workshop 2005 - A critical look at the role of research in achieving the Millennium Development Goals
Year: 2005 - Myths and realities about organic agriculture. Lessons from sub-Saharan Africa
Autoren: Hauser, M.
Event: Unknown
Year: 2004 - Linking farmers to markets: developing strategies to improve thecompetitiveness of organic agriculture in eastern and southern Africa
Autoren: Delve, R., Hauser, M.
Event: 2nd Conference Sustain Life and Secure Survival 2004 - Socially and Environmentally Responsible Agribusiness
Year: 2004 - Small niche – big potential. Organic agriculture in the Ethiopian context
Autoren: Hauser, M.
Event: Lecture
Year: 2004 - Organic agriculture in sub-Sahara Africa.An option for future investments?
Autoren: Hauser, M.
Event: DEV-FORUM Presentation (Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Austrian Development Cooperation)
Year: 2004 - ‚Research for Development‘: a new pro-poor paradigm?
Autoren: Hauser, M.
Event: 2nd Conference Sustain Life and Secure Survival 2004 - Socially and Environmentally Responsible Agribusiness
Year: 2004 - Forschung für Entwicklung. Studieren an der BOKU
Autoren: Hauser, M.
Event: BOKU Studieninformationstag 2004
Year: 2004 - Forschung für Entwicklung. Die Österreichische Situation (Research for Development. The Austrian Situation)
Autoren: Hauser, M.
Event: Wissenschaft und Forschung für Nachhaltige Entwicklung
Year: 2004 - Networking for a common goal. How social capital shapes the organic agriculture movement in Uganda
Autoren: Hauser, M., Gotschi, E. and Walaga, C.
Event: 11th World Congress of Rural Sociology 2004
Year: 2004 - Organic farming: global experiences and local challenges
Autoren: Hauser, M.
Event: ILDP (Integrated Livestock Development Project) Workshop on Organic Farming
Year: 2004 - Emerging organic markets: Challenges and opportunities for research and interuniversity partnerships
Autoren: Hauser, M.
Event: Public Lecture
Year: 2004 - What ‘rich’ organics may mean for ‘poor’ organics
Autoren: Hauser, M.
Event: Organic farming in a global perspective - globalisation, sustainable development and ecological justice
Year: 2004 - Linking farmers to markets. Developing strategies to improve the competitiveness of organic agriculture in Eastern and Southern Africa
Autoren: Hauser, M.
Event: F2M Project Workshops
Year: 2004 - Developing effective research and development linkages through comprehensive assessment
Autoren: Hauser, M., Loiskandl, W., Strauss-Sieberth, A.
Event: IWMI Workshop on Impact of Irrigation Development on Poverty and the Environment
Year: 2003 - Welternährung: Konzepte, Prognosen und die Rolle der ökologischen Landwirtschaft in so genannten Entwicklungsländern
Autoren: Hauser, M.
Event: Globales Lernen - nachhaltige Ernährungskonzepte und deren Vermittlung 2003
Year: 2003 - Beyond pioneering: Current state and future challenges of organic agriculture in Uganda
Autoren: Charles, W., Hauser, M. , Muwanga, M.
Event: The East African Organic Standards and Certification Workshop
Year: 2003 - Enabling Learning - Facilitating Change
Autoren: Hauser, M.
Event: Summer School, Guest Lecture
Year: 2002 - Employing a sustainable livelihoods approach to natural resource management: theories, methods and practical applications
Autoren: Hauser, M.
Event: Unknown
Year: 2002 - Employing a sustainable livelihoods perspective to organic agriculture in Uganda. Is this a useful approach?
Autoren: Hauser, M
Event: FAO 2002
Year: 2002 - Livelihood Security and Organic Agriculture. The Case of Uganda
Autoren: Hauser, M.
Event: Deutscher Tropentag 2002 - International Research on Food Security, Natural Resource Management and Rural Development - Challenges to Organic Farming and Sustainbale Land use in the Tropics and Subtropics
Year: 2002 - Poverty, environment and sustainable development. What role for research?
Autoren: Hauser, M.
Event: Environmental Research for Sustainable Development Workshop 2002
Year: 2002 - Synergy building between research and extension. Lessons from the Organic Agriculture & Sustainable Livelihoods Programme in Uganda
Autoren: Hauser, M., Kabuye, F.
Event: Environmental Research for Sustainable Development Workshop 2002
Year: 2002 - Assessing the contribution of organic agriculture for increasing livelihood security in Uganda.
Autoren: Hauser, M., Walaga, C.
Event: 14th IFOAM Organic World Congress 2002 - Cultivating Communities
Year: 2002 - Facilitating organic agriculture. What is the new role of rural extension in east Africa?
Autoren: Hauser, M., Miiro, R. Walaga, C., Freyer, B.
Event: 14th IFOAM Organic World Congress 2002 - Cultivating Communities
Year: 2001 - Organic agriculture, extension and the development of human and social capital. What lessons can be learned?
Autoren: Hauser, M.
Event: Annual Meeting of the Neuchatel Initiative
Organic Agriculture in the Tropics - A curriculum development project for higher education.
Autoren: Hauser, M., Freyer, B., Vogl, C.R.
Organic Agriculture in Developing Countries
Autoren: Hauser, M.
Organic agriculture. Why it matters for development
Autoren: Hauser, M.
Small Farms, Rich People. Über die Rolle der Biologischen Landwirtschaft in Afrika
Autoren: Hauser, M.
Präsentation der Forschungsbereiche des Institutes für Ökologischen Landbau
Autoren: Freyer, B., Fromm, E., Gollner, M., Hauser, M., Kaliski, O., Kratochvil, R., Pietsch, G.