Carolin Hulke is an economic geographer, who joined the department as an Assistant Professor in Economic Geography in August 2023. She has finished her PhD on local and regional horticulture value chains in Namibia and their interlinkages to the global tourism industry (“Development beyond global integration: Livelihood strategies, small-scale agriculture, and regional value chains in Namibian conservation areas”) at the University of Cologne (Germany) in 2022.

Carolin’s research focuses on the complex interlinkages between globalised economies and local development outcomes from the perspectives of regional resilience, livelihood wellbeing and inclusive development in Global South countries. In examining these topics, she is particularly interested in processes of multi-layered governance to enhance sustainability in value chains from an evolutionary perspective. Carolin has been engaged in a large collaborative research centre (“Future Rural Africa”) from 2018 to 2023, where she has conducted in-depth mixed-methods research in Southern Africa in an international and interdisciplinary team.

Conceptually, Carolin is interested in critical approaches towards global value chains and production networks, regional value chains and regionalisation dynamics linked to multiple crises, and new path creation. Her broader research questions revolve around how rural regions in the global south can transform their economies in socially and environmentally sensitive ways, how these transformation processes are governed, and who is benefiting or being left out.