Marie Müller-Koné

Biography

In her position as researcher with bicc, Marie’s research interests have shifted from grievances in the context of large-scale and small-scale mining and oil extraction projects and the governance of resource extraction in Africa to the politics of land and political contestation and human-nature-relations and socioecological transformation more broadly. She was centrally involved in the acquiring of funds for the project B03 - “Violent futures? Contestations along the frontier” that is currently running in its second 4-year-phase as part of the DFG-funded Collaborative Research Center “Future Rural Africa”. Her doctoral research at the University of Bonn (Prof. Conrad Schetter) and University of Cologne (Prof. Michael Bollig) is placed in that context. As a result of her co-authored publications in the same context, Marie gained the position of Senior Researcher in September 2022. In November 2022, she was responsible for the conceptual design of the annual bicc Conference on “Infrastructural power at global frontiers: prospects for conflict and peace” (bicc Press/Events/Documentation of BICC Conference 2022 \ Infrastructural power at global...) Marie started her career as a research assistant, and later, researcher in the field of natural resources and conflict at bicc and led a research project on “Artisanal miners in developing countries—DR Congo and Peru" which investigated the limits and possibilities of certification initiatives aimed at “conflict-free” or “fair” minerals. As International Coordinator of the Fatal Transactions network of European research institutes and NGOs, she was an observer to the Kimberley Process for the certification of rough diamonds. Before her work at bicc, she had gained experience in the field of international development cooperation and African studies (BMZ, GIGA, GIZ Germany and GIZ Côte d’Ivoire, Inwent).