Areas of Expertise

Climate migration
Climate impacts and violent conflicts
Civilian crisis prevention
Climate and human development
Climate impacts in the Sahel, South Asia, and the Pacific

Short Bio

Dr. Kira Vinke is head of the Center for Climate and Foreign Policy at the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP). She also co-chairs the Advisory Board to the German Federal Government on Civilian Crisis Prevention and Peacebuilding. From 2014-2022, she worked at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK). Before joining DGAP, she headed the East Africa Peru India Climate Capacities (EPICC) project there.

Until 2018, Vinke was a research analyst to the director of PIK. In this capacity, she worked from 2014 to 2016 as an analyst for the German Advisory Council on Global Change to the Federal Government (WBGU). She provided her expertise as a consultant for the German Development Cooperation (GIZ) and the Asian Development Bank. She has extensive field research experience in South Asia, the Pacific, and the Sahel.

Vinke completed her doctoral dissertation (summa cum laude) at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin on the subject of climate change and migration; her studies were funded by the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes. For her dissertation, she received the “Potsdamer Nachwuchswissenschaftler-Preis,” a prize for young scientists, from the city of Potsdam.

Vinke has been a member of the advisory board of Germany’s Federal Academy for Security Policy (BAKS) since 2022. She is also a member of the board of trustees of the German Climate Foundation (Deutsche KlimaStiftung) and of the World Vision Deutschland e.V. In addition, Vinke is a member of the German section of “Aktion gegen den Hunger” (Action Against Hunger), and the Development Service and Humanitarian Aid Committee of “Brot für die Welt” (bread for the world).

See list of publications

See list of lectures and media appearances