Rike Mühlhaus

Rike Mühlhaus is a research assistant at the Chair for Computational Earth System Sciences at the Center for Critical Computational Studies (C³S) and a guest researcher at the Earth Resilience Science Unit at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK). In her research, she analyses the likelihood of tipping points and cascading dynamics under future emission scenarios, with an emphasis on improving the policy relevance of climate risk assessments. Her work focuses on climate tipping elements in the Earth system, particularly on reframing tipping risk assessments from temperature-based pathways to CO₂-based metrics.

Biography

I am a research assistant at the Chair for Computational Earth System Sciences, where I work on improving the assessment of climate tipping risks. My research focuses on reframing tipping risk metrics from temperature-based pathways to cumulative CO₂ emissions, with the aim of providing more policy-relevant indicators for climate decision-making. By combining approaches from Earth system science and computational analysis, I seek to better quantify the risks associated with critical thresholds in the climate system.

Previously, I conducted my Master’s thesis at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, where I investigated climate sensitivity as a key determinant of tipping risks.

Education

2023 - 2025: M.Sc. Climate, Earth, Water, Sustainability, University of Potsdam

2019 - 2023: B.Sc. Environmental Science (Minor: Philosophy), Leuphana University Lüneburg

International experience:

09/2024 - 02/25 - Semester abroad: Charles University Prague, Czechia

  • Focus on environmental health and modeling

01/2025 Winter School, Computational modeling in marine ecology, fisheries and climate, Tropical Marine Research (ZMT) and the Africa Centre of Excellence in Coastal Resilience (ACECoR), Cape Coast, Ghana

Research

Research Interests:

  • Climate tipping points and nonlinear Earth system dynamics
  • Assessment of tipping risks in the Earth system
  • Policy-relevant metrics for climate risk communication and decision-making
  • Interdisciplinary Research

Methods:

  • Earth system modeling
  • Quantitative risk assessment
  • Scenario analysis
Publications

Mühlhaus, R., Steinert, N. J., Rockström, J., & Wunderling, N. (2026). Observationally constrained climate sensitivity implies high climate tipping risk. (PREPRINT). https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9105405/v1

Frank, E., Mühlhaus, R., Mustelin, K. M., Trilken, E. L., Kreuz, N. K., Bowes, L. C., Backer, L. M., & von Wehrden, H. (2024). A systematic review of peer-reviewed gender literature in sustainability science. Sustainability Science, 1–22. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-024-01514-5

Conference Contributions

2025: Sustainability vs Climate Crisis, Climate Sensitivity as a Determinant of Climate Tipping Risk, Technical University of Denmark

2024: 13. Deutsche Klimatagung, Gerechtigkeit und urbane Transformation in Zeiten galoppierenden Klimawandels , Potsdam

Contact

Center for Critical Computational Studies (C3S)

Eschersheimer Landstraße 121

60322 Frankfurt am Main

Email: Muehlhaus[at]c3s.uni-frankfurt.de