On November 24, 2022, Schilling received his habilitation certificate from the Dean of the Department of Natural and Environmental Sciences at the University of Koblenz-Landau. The habilitation procedure consisted of the habilitation thesis entitled "Symptoms of the Anthropocene: A Local to Global Perspective on the Impacts of Climate Change and Resource Exploitation on Land Use, Human Security, Resilience, and Conflict" and a research and teaching lecture.