Lara Schmitt

Special Expertise

Fields of research: Sustainable management, sustainable supply chains, environmental impacts of air traffic (noise), social aspects of climate and environmental policy

In detail:

• Environmental due diligence obligations, in particular water protection; supply chain regulation (CSDDD, LkSG)
• Motivating and socially just climate and environmental policy
• Noise protection at Frankfurt Airport

Methodological competences: Expertise in the application of social science qualitative and quantitative research methods for the collection and analysis of empirical data, including expert interviews, focus groups, qualitative content analysis, surveys, statistical analyses (SPSS), transdisciplinary research (citizen workshops)

Key Projects

• "Scientific and technical services for organisations of the Forum Airport and Region (FFR)", consulting project for the ‘Gemeinnützige Umwelthaus’ (Frankfurt, Germany)
• "Options for action to achieve the European land-saving target of net zero: Investigation of conflicting objectives and interfaces of laws and strategies relevant to land policy in the European member states and development of international harmonisation options with regard to achieving the land-saving target of net zero", research project commissioned by the Federal Environment Agency
• "Specialist consulting services for organisations of the Airport and Region Forum", consulting project for the ‘Gemeinnützige Umwelthaus’ (Frankfurt, Germany)
• "Impact of the EU Due Diligence Directive on Switzerland and RFA on sustainability reporting", research project commissioned by the Federal Office of Justice and the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (Switzerland)

Professional Training and Career

Professional experience

• Since 2023: Researcher at the Öko-Institut, Darmstadt, Department of Environmental Law & Governance
• 2021 - 2023: Student assistant in the joint project "PaEGIE-Participative Energy Transformation" at the TU Darmstadt at the Institute of Political Science
• 2020: Internship at the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) in Berlin in Division 311 - China, Central and East Asia, Laos and Cambodia
• 2019: Internship at Consilium & Co GmbH (market research), Darmstadt

Education

• 2020 - 2024: M.A. in International Studies/Peace and Conflict Research at Goethe University Frankfurt and TU Darmstadt
  Topic of the Master's thesis: Dealing with (ground)water in the textile supply chain:
  an analysis of telecoupling. Using the case study of the production site Dhaka, Bangladesh.
• 2017 - 2020: B.A. in Applied Social Sciences at Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences
  Topic of the Bachelor's thesis: Investigation of consumer acceptance of the ‘Green Button’ using a quantitative online survey

Language Skills

• English
• French