Research

Research areas

We are a team of over 20 researchers from diverse academic disciplines, dedicated to advancing knowledge in the broad field of land-use governance. Our primary focus is on forest and water governance and their interconnections, alongside related areas such as nature conservation, biodiversity, climate change, bioeconomy, and agriculture.

Geographical focus

Our research encompasses local to global scales, with a strong emphasis on multilevel interactions across these different levels. At the national level, we conduct studies in Germany and various European countries – including France, Finland, Italy, Romania, Norway, Spain, and Switzerland as well as in international contexts such as Indonesia, Brazil, and Ghana. We also engage in sub-national and local research within all these countries, with a particular focus on Baden-Württemberg in Germany. Additionally, through EU-funded projects, we conduct extensive research on the European Union as a regional organization.

Concepts, theories and methods

Conceptually, our research embraces a broad understanding of governance that includes interests, institutions, and ideas. We examine various aspects such as policy integration and coherence, implementation issues, policy instruments and their effectiveness, as well as norms, legitimacy, uncertainty, and resilience. Our approaches combine (historical) institutionalist perspectives with actor- and network-based views, along with interpretative research methods such as discourse and frame analysis. In recent years, we have increasingly incorporated approaches from political ecology, especially regarding questions of justice and power. Additionally, (media) communication studies remain an integral part of the chair’s research.