Univ.-Prof. Dr. Patrick Sakdapolrak

Patrick Sakdapolrak

Department of Geography and Regional Research

Universitätsstraße 7/5
1010 Wien

Tel.: +43-1-4277-48730

Email: patrick.sakdapolrak@univie.ac.at

Biography

My research field is at the interface of population dynamics, environmental change and development processes, with a focus on the topics of migration and displacement as well as health and disease. The central theme of my research is the question of how vulnerable groups live with risk. My Ph.D. thesis is based on field research in slum settlements in India, where the inhabitants have significant higher mortality and morbidity rates than the rest of the urban population. I have investigated how these poor urban groups cope with and adapt to environmental and social stresses. My current research on migration-environment relationships in Kenya and Thailand addresses the question how migration alters the way people at places of origin deal with the environment and climate change. I have the aim to pursue sound theoretical and empirical research which is relevant for wider society. I have studied Geography and Development Research in Heidelberg and Wollongong, Australia, and received my doctorate degree at Bonn University.

Research Interests
  • Conceptual: vulnerability, resilience, livelihoods, translocality, Bourdieu's Practice-Theory
  • Thematic: human-environment-relations, migration and displacement, health and disease
  • Regional: South Asia (India), South-East Asia (Thailand), East Africa (Kenia)
Publications
Sterly H, Borderon M, Sakdapolrak P, Adger WN, Ayanlade A, Bah A et al. Habitability for a connected, unequal and changing world. Global Environmental Change. 2025 Mar;90:102953. Epub 2024 Nov 23. doi: 10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2024.102953

Szaboova L, Adger WN, Safra de Campos R, Maharjan A, Sakdapolrak P, Sterly H et al. Evaluating migration as successful adaptation to climate change: Trade-offs in well-being, equity, and sustainability. One Earth. 2023 Jun 16;6(6):620-631. doi: 10.1016/j.oneear.2023.05.009

Ayanlade A, Sergi CM, Sakdapolrak P, Ayanlade OS, Carlo PD, Babatimehin OI et al. Climate change engenders a better Early Warning System development across Sub-Saharan Africa: The malaria case. Resources, Environment and Sustainability. 2022 Dec 31;10:100080. doi: 10.1016/j.resenv.2022.100080

Butsch C, Sakdapolrak P. Gesundheit und Krankheit im Entwicklungskontext. In Geographien der Gesundheit: Beiträge zum 50-jährigen Bestehen des Arbeitskreises Medizinische Geographie und Geographische Gesundheitsforschung in der DGfG. Vol. 6. 2022. p. 85-98. (Geographische Gesundheitsforschung).

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

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