Research

Research at the Chair Group of Sustainability Governance is targeted at the nexus of sustainability, science, and society. Our research is theory-driven and empirically grounded, often based on case studies with a reach from local to transnational and global levels. We have conducted research in various European, Latin American and African contexts.

In our work we, inter alia, focus on …

environmental conflicts in geopolitical contexts;
dynamics of socio-technical transformations;
environmental injustice and just sustainabilities;
environmental knowledge politics;
professional epistemologies and cultures of expertise;
collective action – mobilization and resistance.

We work in a broad spectrum of policy fields including biodiversity, climate change, energy, water, land-use, conservation, mining, and food.

In terms of scholarly strands, we build on various approaches including Political Ecology, Governmentality, Post-structuralist Policy Studies, Transition Studies, Science & Technology Studies (STS), Critical Peace and Conflict Studies, and Decolonial Theory. Methodologically, our research largely draws on qualitative methods anchored in the critical interpretivist tradition of the social sciences and mixed methods. Inter- and transdisciplinarity are integral features of all our work as we seek to illuminate the possibilities and limits of these new principles of scientific problem-solving.

Selected Research Projects

Research Project

“Professional epistemologies and integration of biodiversity-related knowledge into socio-political decision-making”

As part of the DFG Research Training Group ConFoBi (RTG 2123), Ronja Mikoleit, Manuel John, and Moritz Lauser (under the supervision of Michael Pregernig) have been exploring the question under which conditions specific stocks of knowledge about retention forestry measures (e.g. habitat tree selection) and other biodiversity-related knowledge are taken up and created in different decision-making contexts.

Research Project

“ReSET – Reconfiguring Energy for Social Equity”

In a 4-year research project funded by the Volkswagenstiftung, Philipp Späth (as Principal Investigator) and Bleta Arifi (as PostDoc researcher) together with researchers from The Netherlands, India, and South Africa, strive to provide answers to the crucial question of how the global energy transition can be made more equitable. The project focuses on how ‘software’, in form of policy regimes, determines the flow of investments in the ‘hardware’ of energy infrastructures. Together with diverse stakeholders, the project aims to develop a generic framework and gain concrete insights that can inform future policies.

About us

Our profile, latest news and more.

Teaching

Our courses and information about theses.

Our Team

Introduction of our team members with short bios.

Lauser, Moritz J. F. (2024): Climate risk maps as boundary objects for future forests. Environmental Science & Policy. 162, 103908. DOI: https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2024.103908
Welter, Zabrina, & Rojas, Axel (2024): Spatial repertoires of power in the production of mining territories in northern Cauca, Colombia: Between imposition and negotiation. Environment and Security. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/27538796241263216
Jakob Kramer, Sophia Silverton, & Philipp Späth (2024): Urban governance arrangements for sustainability and justice – linking theory with experience. Urban Transformations 6 /2024. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s42854-024-00064-4

All publications of the Chair Group

Completed Projects
(Selection)

Academic Qualification Projects

Dissertation Project Simon Funke
Die zunehmende Dezentralisierung des deutschen Stromversorgungssystems: Auswirkungen auf die technologische Infrastruktur und Resonanz in politischen Diskurskoalitionen [The increasing decentralisation of the German electricity supply system: effects on the technological infrastructure and resonance in political discourse coalitions]
- First supervisor: Philipp Späth
Dissertation Project Manuel John
Exploring professional epistemologies in the context of forest biodiversity research
- Tied to DFG Research Training Group ConFoBi
- First supervisor: Michael Pregernig
- Funding: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG)
Dissertation Project Romane Joly
Food circulation shaping the hinterland: dairy supply chains in the Upper Rhine region
- First supervisor: Philipp Späth
- Funding: University of Strasbourg, Deutsch-Französische Hochschule
Dissertation Project Moritz Lauser
Epistemic dynamics in science-policy interactions: Exploring the development and application of scientific advisory products for future forests
- Tied to DFG Research Training Group ConFoBi
- First supervisor: Michael Pregernig
- Funding: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG)
Dissertation Project Ronja Mikoleit
Professional epistemologies and integration of biodiversity-related knowledge into socio-political decision-making
- Tied to DFG Research Training Group ConFoBi
- First supervisor: Michael Pregernig
- Funding: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG)
Dissertation Project Silvia Monetti
Shaping sustainable food systems for all? Food policy strategies, local food governance, and justice: Changing or maintaining the status quo – the case of Germany
- First supervisor: Michael Pregernig
Dissertation Project Melani Pelaez Jara
Science-policy-society interactions in environmental risk and adaptation policymaking: evidence from Latin America and Europe
- Tied to project “Flood Adapt – Flood protection policies and climate change adaptation in Austria, Germany, and Switzerland”
- First supervisor: Michael Pregernig
- Funding: Heinrich Böll Stiftung
Dissertation Project Désirée Schwindenhammer
Discursive Power and Institutions in Coastal Marine Governance: Perspectives on Blue Growth and Blue Justice in (Post-)Colonial Contexts
- First supervisor: Michael Pregernig
Dissertation Project Zabrina Welter
Extractive resource bonanzas, territorial struggles, and the production of new territories in Colombia
- First supervisor: Michael Pregernig
- Funding: Heinrich Böll Stiftung