Dr. Claudia Binder

Biography

Claudia R. Binder is a Swiss, Canadian, and Colombian national with a background in biochemistry and environmental sciences. She studied at ETH Zurich between 1985 and 1996, earning her PhD in environmental sciences. After her doctoral studies, she conducted post-doctoral research at the University of Maryland from 1996 to 1998 before returning to Switzerland to work as a senior research scientist at ETH Zurich, focusing on human-environment interactions. In 2006, she joined the University of Zurich as an assistant professor in the Department of Geography and later became a full professor at the University of Graz in Austria and the University of Munich. Binder has been at EPFL since March 2016, where she set up the Laboratory for Human-Environment Relations and Urban Systems (HERUS), examining sustainability transitions in urban systems. As a member of multiple research councils and committees, she has contributed significantly to topics of sustainability and energy consumption. She serves as the Dean of the ENAC School at EPFL from January 2020 to December 2023 and has been involved in numerous teaching initiatives and committees, focusing on sustainability in urban areas.

Research Interests

Courses