Harald Sterly

Dr. Harald Sterly

Dr. Harald Sterly

Senior Scientist

Department of Geography and Regional Research
Universitätsstraße 7/5
1010 Wien

Tel.: +43-1-4277-48731

Biography

As a human geographer, I focus on the spatial and social aspects of migration, urbanization, and technological change. A specific interest lies at the nexus of translocal social formations of people, how they use information and communication technology (ICT), and how this changes their scope for agency and their vulnerability and resilience. The conceptual frameworks I work with include relational sociology, structure-agency and practice theories, and relational approaches to space and place. I have conducted field work in Bangladesh, Thailand, Kenya, Somalia, and Guatemala. I have done my Diplom (MSc) in geography at the University of Cologne and a postgraduate course in international development cooperation with the SLE at the Humboldt-University Berlin. My PhD thesis focuses on mobile communication and translocal social relations of rural-to-urban migrants in Bangladesh. In the past, I have coordinated the TransRe research group at the University of Bonn, which focuses on the linkages between migration, translocal connections and social resilience in Thailand.

Research interests

Conceptual: spatiality of livelihoods, translocality, relational sociology, practice theories, science and technology studies, communication and digitalization

Thematic: migration, vulnerability, urbanization, rural-urban relations, development

Regional: South East Asia (Thailand), South Asia (Bangladesh), East Africa (Kenya, Somalia)

Publications

Ayanlade, A., Oluwaranti, A., Ayanlade , O. S., Borderon, M., Sterly, H., Sakdapolrak, P., Jegede, M. O., Weldemariam, L. F., & Ayinde, A. F. O. (2022). Extreme climate events in sub-Saharan Africa: A call for improving agricultural technology transfer to enhance adaptive capacity. Climate Services, 27, [100311]. doi.org/10.1016/j.cliser.2022.100311

Zander, K., Garnett, S., Sterly, H., Ayeb-Karlsson, S., Šedová, B., Lotze-Campen, H., Richerzhagen, C., & Baggen, H. (2022). Topic modelling exposes disciplinary divergence in research on the nexus between human mobility and the environment. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 9(1), [34]. doi.org/10.1057/s41599-022-01038-2

Sterly, H. (2022). Translocal Social Constellations and Mediated Communication in Bangladesh. kups.ub.uni-koeln.de/54961/7/Dissertation%20STERLY%202022%20Translocal%20Social%20Constellations%20and%20Mediated%20Communication%20in%20Bangladesh.pdf

Sterly, H., & Wirkus, L. (Accepted/In press). Analysing refugees’ secondary mobility using mobile phone Call Detail Records (CDR). In Data Science for Migration and Mobility (pp. 99-120). Oxford University Press.

Sakdapolrak, P., Stange, G., & Sterly, H. (2021). Bevölkerungsdynamiken im Kontext des globalen Umweltwandels. In B. Braun, I. Helbrecht, R. Schneider-Sliwa, & R. Wehrhahn (Eds.), Humangeographie (pp. 149-158). Westermann. Compass: das geographische Seminar

Durand-Delacre, D., Bettini, G., Nash, S. L., Sterly, H., Gioli, G., Hut, E., Boas, I., Farbotko, C., Sakdapolrak, P., de Bruijn, M., Furlong, B. T., van der Geest, K., Lietaer, S., & Hulme, M. (2021). Climate Migration is About People, not Numbers. In S. Böhm, & S. Sullivan (Eds.), Negotiating Climate Change in Crisis (pp. 63-81). Open Book Publishers. books.openbookpublishers.com/10.11647/obp.0265.06.pdf

Sterly, H., & Wirkus, L. (2021). Mobilfunkdaten: Forschungsethische Probleme bei der Arbeit mit Mobilfunkdaten in Kontexten von Migration und Flucht. In T. Bork-Hüffer, H. Füller, & T. Straube (Eds.), Handbuch Digitale Geographien: Welt - Wissen - Werkzeuge (pp. 343-353). UTB.

Hermans, K., Berger, E., Biber-Freudenberg, L., Bossenbroek, L., Ebeler, L., Groth, J., Hack, J., Hanspach, J., Soekardjo Hintz, K., Kimengsi, J. N., Kwong, Y. M., Oakes, R., Pagogna, R., Plieninger, T., Sterly, H., van der Geest, K., van Vliet, J., & Wiederkehr, C. (2021). Crisis-induced disruptions in place-based social-ecological research – an opportunity for redirection. GAIA - Ökologische Perspektiven in Natur-, Geistes- und Wirtschaftswissenschaften, 30(2), 72-76. doi.org/10.14512/gaia.30.2.3

Sakdapolrak, P., & Sterly, H. (2020). Building Climate Resilience through Migration in Thailand. Migration Information Source, Special Issue. www.migrationpolicy.org/article/building-climate-resilience-through-migration-thailand

Oliver, N., Lepri, B., Sterly, H., Lambiotte, R., Delataille, S., De Nadai, M., Letouzé, E., Ali Salah, A., Benjamins, R., Cattuto, C., Colizza, V., de Cordes, N., Fraiberger, S. P., Koebe, T., Lehmann, S., Murillo, J., Pentland, A., N Pham, P., Pivetta, F., ... Vinck, P. (2020). Mobile phone data for informing public health actions across the COVID-19 pandemic life cycle. Science Advances, 6(23), [eabc0764]. doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abc0764

Stange, G. (Editorial Journalist), Sterly, H. (Editorial Journalist), Sakdapolrak, P. (Editorial Journalist), Borderon, M. (Editorial Journalist), Schraven, B. (Editorial Journalist), Serraglio, D. A. (Author), & Aleksandrova, M. (Author). (2020). Impeded migration as adaptation: COVID-19 and its implications for translocal strategies of environmental risk management. Web publication environmentalmigration.iom.int/blogs/impeded-migration-adaptation-covid-19-and-its-implications-translocal-strategies-environmental

Sterly, H., & Sakdapolrak, P. (2020). Multiple Dimensions of Mediatised Translocal Social Practices. A Cast Study of Domestic Migrants in Bangladesh. Mitteilungen der Österreichischen Geographischen Gesellschaft, 162, 369-395. doi.org/10.1553/moegg162s369

Rockenbauch, T., Sakdapolrak, P., & Sterly, H. (2019). Beyond the local – Exploring the socio-spatial patterns of translocal network capital and its role in household resilience in Northeast Thailand. Geoforum, 107, 154-167. doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2019.09.009

Boas, I., Farbotko, C., Adams, H., Sterly, H., Bush, S., Van der Geest, K., Wiegel, H., Ashraf, H., Baldwin, A., Bettini, G., Blondin, S., de Bruijn, M., Durand-Delacre, D., Fröhlich, C., Gioli, G., Guaita, L., Hut, E., Jarawura, F. X., Lamers, M., ... Hulme, M. (2019). Climate migration myths. Nature Climate Change, 9(12), 901-903. doi.org/10.1038/s41558-019-0633-3

Rockenbauch, T., Sakdapolrak, P., & Sterly, H. (2019). Do translocal networks matter for agricultural innovation? A case study on advice sharing in small‑scale farming communities in Northeast Thailand. Agriculture and Human Values, 36, 685-702. doi.org/10.1007/s10460-019-09935-0

Sterly, H., Etzold, B., Wirkus, L., Sakdapolrak, P., Schewe, J., Schleussner, C-F., & Hennig, B. (2019). AROMA_CoDa: Assessing Refugees’ Onward Mobility through the Analysis of Communication Data. Paper presented at Data for Refugees Challange, Istanbul, Turkey.

Sterly, H., Etzold, B., Wirkus, L., Sakdapolrak, P., Schewe, J., Schleussner, C-F., & Hennig, B. (2019). AROMACoDa: Assessing Refugees' Onward Mobility through the Analysis of Communication Data. In A. A. Salah, A. Pentland, B. Lepri, E. Letouzé, Y-A. de Montjoye, X. Dong, & P. Vinck (Eds.), Your Voice, Your Data, Your Future (pp. 70-82) www.researchgate.net/publication/330999866_AROMA_CoDa_Assessing_Refugees'_Onward_Mobility_through_the_Analysis_of_Communication_Data

Sterly, H., Etzold, B., Wirkus, L., Sakdapolrak, P., Schewe, J., Schleussner, C-F., & Hennig, B. (2019). Assessing Refugees’ Onward Mobility with Mobile Phone Data—A Case Study of (Syrian) Refugees in Turkey. In A. A. Salah, A. Pentland, B. Lepri, & E. Letouzé (Eds.), Guide to Mobile Data Analytics in Refugee Scenarios: The 'Data for Refugees Challenge' Study (pp. 251-263). Springer. doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-12554-7_13

Sterly, H., Etzold, B., & Peth, S. A. (2019). Bangladesch – Beweggründe für Binnenmigration und translokale Lebensrealitäten. Geographische Rundschau (GR), 2019(3), 18-23.

Sterly, H. (2019). Coordinating the Research Programme. In F. Kraas, K. Hackenbroch, H. Sterly, J. Heintzenberg, P. Herrle, & V. Kreibich (Eds.), MegaCities MegaChallenge - Informal Dynamics of Gobal Change (pp. 160-161). Bornträger.