On 21 November, Ricardo Paris, a DAAD-GSSP scholarship holder, successfully defended his doctoral thesis titled From a Global-Local Intersection to Hybrid Territories: Infrastructure, Land and Power in Spatial Reconfigurations of the Nacala Corridor in Mozambique at the Institute of Development Research and Development Policy (IEE).

The defense committee was chaired by Prof. Löwenstein, and the thesis was developed under the supervision of Prof. Andreas Rienow from GI and Prof Blake Walker, externally invited from Friedrich-Alexander-Universität (FAU) Erlangen-Nürnberg. The dissertation focused on land conflicts driven by infrastructure implementation. Methodologically, the thesis explored the integration of multiple approaches, including remote sensing nighttime lights, and time-series analysis of multiple indexes together with qualitative methods such as ethnography and participatory observation. Supported by PR.Int Program from the RUB Research School, Ricardo Paris spent six months as a visiting scholar at the Catholic University of Mozambique, conducting extensive fieldwork in both urban and rural communities along the Nacala Development Corridor in the country’s northern region.

The thesis brings together four peer-reviewed publications, offering critical insights into the intersections of infrastructure, land, and power in shaping spatial transformations.

Gellert Paris, R. (2025). Imperial Forms of Territorialization and the Emergence of Middle-Scale Farms in the Nacala Development Corridor in Mozambique. Territory, Politics and Governance, 1-25, ISSN: 2162-2671, https://doi.org/10.1080/21622671.2025.2517745

Gellert Paris, R. & Rienow, A. (2025). Shedding light on local development: Unveiling spatial dynamics from infrastructure implementation through nighttime lights in the Nacala corridor, Mozambique, Remote Sensing Applications: Society and Environment, V. 37, 101388, ISSN 2352-9385, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rsase.2024.101388

Gellert Paris, R., & Rienow, A. (2023). Using geospatial data to identify land grabbing. Detecting spatial reconfigurations during the implementation of the Nacala Development Corridor in Mozambique with remote sensing and land conflicts databases. European Journal of Remote Sensing, 56(1). https://doi.org/10.1080/22797254.2023.2223751

Gellert Paris, R., & Scheuermann Costa, R. (2025). Tensões entre a Exploração do Capital no Campo e a Produção Comunal: o caso do Programa Sustenta no Moçambique. Crise e Critica. (Manuscript in editing phase)