The Production of Uneven Geographies: Environmental Hazard Exposure and Socioeconomic Inequality

This thesis examines how environmental, economic and digital change are reshaping the geographies of inequality. Adopting an interdisciplinary approach that integrates economic geography, environmental economics and critical urban studies, it argues how space is an active dimension that structures the allocation of resources and the distribution of costs and benefits. The analysis is organised around two interconnected themes. The first concerns the exposure, vulnerability, and resilience of...

Technologies, labour markets and workers: three essays on the consequences of technological change on labour

This thesis examines the consequences of technological change for employment, wages and the organization of work across labour markets and occupational groups. It combines a comparative cross-national perspective with case-study evidence from Germany in order to capture the labour market dynamics related to technological change at both the macro and micro levels. Substantively, the thesis addresses three interconnected research questions. First, it investigates how advanced digital technologi...

Through Smoke and Mirrors of the Post-Truth Era: Knowledge-Driven Generation as Algorithmic Resistance to Misinformation

The rapid spread of misinformation online poses a growing threat to public discourse and democratic society. Research has shown that simply flagging false content is insufficient; providing users with well-grounded explanations of why a claim is false leads to more durable belief revision than mere labeling. Yet the volume at which misinformation spreads online far exceeds the capacity of manual fact-checking, making its automation not merely desirable but necessary. Natural Language Generati...

Development and Application of An Integrated GC-MS/MS and GC-IRMS Analytical Approach in Food Quality Evaluation

Consumers, particularly those in developed countries, are becoming increasingly concerned not only about the composition of food products but also about their authenticity and geographical origin. Globalisation of food markets and the growing demand for high-quality natural ingredients have increased the economic value of many food products and flavourings. As a consequence, fraudulent practices such as adulteration, substitution, dilution, and mislabelling have become more frequent. Reliable...

SATELLITE IMAGE TIME SERIES CHANGE VECTOR ANALYSIS FOR LAND COVER CHANGE DETECTION

The exponential increase in the temporal availability of Satellite Image Time Series (SITS), driven by missions such as Sentinel-2, has fundamentally transformed the capability to monitor Earth’s surface dynamics. However, the exploitation of this data density is currently hindered by a methodological trade-off: while Deep Learning offers high predictive performance, it relies on prohibitive amounts of labeled data and lacks geometric transparency. Conversely, traditional physical methods lik...

Social Virtual Environments as ‘Third Places’: Co-Designing Socio-Relational Spaces For Autistic Young Adults

Characterisation and calibration of silicon photomultipliers for next-generation space detectors

A vast range of applications for Silicon Photomultipliers (SiPMs) has already been found in fields such as medical science and industrial applications, to name a few. They are the new photosensors set to replace the traditional photomultipliers for several next-generation space instruments. Owing to their compact size, low cost, excellent time resolution, and high photon detection efficiency, they are currently the most favourable option for space instruments, especially because weight and co...

Advancing Atom Probe Tomography: Multiscale Modelling and Simulation

Atom Probe Tomography (APT) is a powerful technique for three-dimensional compositional imaging at near-atomic resolution. While extensively applied to metals and alloys, its extension to biological systems remains challenging due to difficulties in sample preparation, the insulating nature of biomaterials, and the limited understanding of laser-assisted field evaporation mechanisms. This thesis addresses these challenges through a multiscale computational framework developed within the Europ...

Optimizing Quantum Annealing for Trapped Ions: Performance, Resources, and Noise Mitigation

Quantum annealing is a promising method for solving combinatorial optimization problems with quantum computers, but its practical performance on near-term devices is constrained by the architecture of the underlying platform, the presence of noise, and the design of the annealing protocol itself. This thesis addresses these challenges along two complementary directions, using trapped-ion hardware based on the Magnetic Gradient Induced Coupling (MAGIC) scheme as a reference architecture. On th...