Dr Desiree Daniel-Ortmann

Research Associate for the DPhil in Sustainable Urban Development

Biography

Desiree Daniel-Ortmann is a Research Associate and Supervisor for the DPhil in Sustainable Urban Development at the Department for Continuing Education, University of Oxford. Previously, Desiree was Departmental Lecturer for the Master's in Sustainable Urban Development, Department for Continuing Education, and a post-doctoral researcher at the Institute for Geography, University of Bern in Switzerland. Desiree holds a PhD in Geography from the University of Bonn, Germany (2018), a Master’s in Geoinformatics from the University of Muenster, Germany (2011) and a Bachelor’s in Geomatics from the University of the West Indies (2009).

Research and Teaching

Desiree is an interdisciplinary researcher working at the intersection of development geography, sustainability science and digital technologies. In current research and teaching, Desiree focuses on four core thematic areas: 

• Operationalization of relational values within the context of Nature’s Contribution to People
• Documentality, land tenure and livelihood resilience
• The role of role of emerging technologies such as blockchain in enabling resilience and driving transformative change
• The ontological nature of resilience and power

Desiree is currently involved in the National Ecosystem Assessment for Grenada as a lead and contributing author. 

Keywords

Resilience, power dynamics, sustainable land management, relational values and Nature's Contribution to People, blockchain technology, social and formal ontology