Other
I lead research projects on environmental change, natural resource extraction, economic development, and spillover effects.
- I am leading the CEPR project Dynamine on artisanal and small-scale mining and conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo, together with Victoire Girard and Lukas Vashold.
- Previously, I led the OeNB project Layers on modelling the impacts of natural resource extraction, together with Stefan Giljum.
Software and Infrastructure
I am committed to free and open-source software and develop packages, tools, and research infrastructure for Bayesian modelling, spatial analysis, efficient computation, and data dissemination.
- Kuschnig, N. and Vashold, L.: BVAR: Hierarchical Bayesian Vector Autoregression. R package (CRAN , GitHub ).
- Kuschnig, N.: influence: Sensitivity to Influential Sets. R package (GitHub ).
- Kuschnig, N.: sanic: Solving Ax = b Nimbly in C++. R package (CRAN , GitHub ).
- Kuschnig, N.: bsreg: Bayesian Spatial Regression Models. R package (CRAN , GitHub ).
- Vashold, L. and Kuschnig, N.: BVARverse: Tidy Bayesian Vector Autoregression. R package (CRAN , GitHub ).
I also develop and maintain research and community infrastructure, including the Layers Mine Map , an interactive map of mining footprints over time, and Melbourne Economics Events , a platform aggregating economics-related seminars and events in and near Melbourne.
Media and Policy
My work on mining, deforestation, and environmental impacts has informed and/or been discussed in media and policy-facing outlets, including:
- VoxDev: The downstream impacts of mines: How pollution hits agriculture .
- Mongabay: Industrial mining’s tropical deforestation footprint spills beyond concessions .
- European Commission: Modelling the land footprint of EU consumption
- EU JRC: Deforestation and forest degradation in the Amazon .
- IUCN: Biodiversity and responsible sourcing for wind and solar developments .
- Rainforest Foundation Norway: Forest-risk Extractives: A Global Geospatial Analysis .
- Asian Development Bank: Achieving the Golden Indonesia Vision 2045: Pathways and Challenges .