Grit Martinez

Dr. Grit Martinez is a Senior Fellow and coordinates the coastal and marine studies at the Ecologic Institute. She is an Associate Research Professor in the department of Anthropology at the College of Behavioral Social Sciences at the University of Maryland, Washington D.C. and has been until February 2015 an Adjunct Associate Professor at the Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences, a faculty of Duke University in North Carolina. Grit Martinez is an environmental historian and works in interdisciplinary contexts and across the borders of the humanities, social and natural sciences. Her research interest lies in the influence of historic path dependencies and cultural values on contemporary human perceptions and behavior towards environmental changes, mainly in coastal and marine regions. She has specific expertise in climate change adaptation, risk management, and integrated coastal zone management. With a strong background – both applied academic research and advocacy – she works and has worked with stakeholders (end-users, policy makers and scientist) in urban and rural areas in Europe, North- and Latin America.