Alumni

Zhanylai Asankulova

Topic of the thesis:

Arbeitsmarkt Performance in Abhängigkeit von Auslandserfahrung

In meiner Forschung möchte ich untersuchen, wie internationale Erfahrungen die Arbeitsmarkt Performance der Individuen beeinflussen können. Die Studie vergleicht den Übergang in den Arbeitsmarkt mobiler und nicht-mobiler Studierender sowie deren weitere Karriereentwicklung. Dabei konzentriere ich mich auf den Selektionseffekt von mobilen Studierenden und mache die erste Analyse mit Daten zu deutschen Absolventen.

Dr. Jessica Beyer

Topic of the thesis:

Soziale Raumkonstitution von Studierenden. Eine qualitative empirische Analyse an privaten Hochschulen (2021)

Dr. Ann-Christin Bartels

Topic of the thesis

Der Sonderfall „medizinische Promotion“: Motivation, Struktur und Rahmenbedingungen (2018)

Dr. Frerk Blome

Topic of the thesis:

Conditions for the Success of Academic Careers in a Subject Comparison

The dissertation deals with the career trajectories of university professors in a comparative manner. On the basis of biographical interviews, the question of how successful academic careers come about, what influence biographical and social constellations have and how the conditions for success differ between the disciplines will be examined.

Dr. Alex Fenton

Topic of the thesis:

Official Statistics and the Welfare State: The Production of Poverty and Income Statistics in Britain and Germany since 1970 (2018)

Dr. Grit Fisser

Topic of the thesis:

Wahrnehmung biographischer (Un)Sicherheit bei "Postdocs" im Maschinenbau und in der Soziologie (2018)    

Dr. Anna Erika Haegglund

Topic of the thesis:

From Educational Decisions to Labour Market Consequences (2018)

Dr. Sebastian Jakob

Topic of the thesis:

Regulatory Science under Pressure? A Case Study of three Governmental Research Agencies in Germany (2021)    

My project revolves around the question of how Regulatory Science actors deal with changed conditions of legitimacy. It derives from several key developments in the last decades: (1) the improved flow of information via the internet (Castells 2003); (2) scientification of society (Bell 1976; Kreibich 1986); (3) the relativism of scientific knowledge through experts and counter-experts; (4) the growing risks due to the development of modern technologies (Beck 1986, 2007), and (5) the relativism of science through science and society (Collins 1985; Jensen 2017). Considering these assumptions, my research question is as follows: How do Regulatory Science actors act to pressure for credibility and increasing accountability to the public? To answer the question I will conduct a multi case study with three GRAs in Germany.  

Regulatory Science is peculiar to Academic Science, because it differs in several aspects from it. Mainly Jasanoff (1994) and Salter (1988) developed the concept of Regulatory Science. At the heart of the approach is the assumption that science used in policy-contexts is fundamentally different from science without a direct mandate, so-called ‘pure research’. The main differences are the audiences (governmental bodies vs. scientific community), the time-frame (limited vs. open-ended) and the political influences (mandated vs. independent) of the scientific work. In Germany, actors in Regulatory Science are the Governmental Research Agencies (GRA) that belongs to the ministries. The Federal Government defines tasks for the GRAs like institutionalized and purpose-oriented in-house research in its own facilities and) the formation and support of expert systems under the principle of economy and expediency (Bundesregierung 2007).

GRAs are under public attack if their scientific knowledge contains epistemic uncertainties and conflict in the same time with political, moral, social or economic interests (Leuschner 2012). These can be topics of high social relevance, but also very specific scientific sub-areas. This work deals with these specialized areas, more precisely with the legitimation and objectivity within Regulatory Science. Regulatory Science is all about weighing political, moral, social and economic interests and come to an assessment of uncertainties and risk. In three case studies, I will provide information about the changing conditions of legitimation and the effects on the work for GRAs in Germany.

Dr. Friederike Knoke

Topic of the thesis: Subjective rights to research data. De lege lata und de lege ferenda
(2023)

Because access to knowledge should be as open as possible, does this
mean that individual, exclusive entitlements to research data are out of
question? Friederike Knoke scrutinizes this maxim and, with the help of
legal doctrine and an empirical study, analyses the legal position as
well as the need to protect those who have generated research data.

Dr. Anna Ewa Marczuk

Topic of the thesis:

Is Higher Education Really Higher and Secondary Education Merely Secondary? How Educational Institutions Influence the Signaling of Higher and Vocational Degrees and Shape Labour Market Outcomes Within European Countries (2019)

Dr. Björn Möller

Thema der Dissertation:

Politische Steuerung der Hochschulen durch kennzahlenbasierte Darstellungs- und Informationsberichte - Eine empirische Analyse in sechs Bundesländern

Im Mittelpunkt der Arbeit stehen die Beziehung zwischen der Hochschule als Organisation und dem Wissenschaftsministerium als politische Institution sowie die ökonomischen Kennzahlenberichte als potenzielle Steuerungsinstrumente. Mit der Analyse der beschriebenen Punkte soll einerseits ein Beitrag zur organisationssoziologischen Weiterentwicklung der Hochschulforschung geleistet und andererseits die Verbesserung der Sprachfähigkeit zwischen Hochschule und Politik über das Darstellungs- und Analyseinstrument „Kennzahlenberichte“ vorangetrieben werden. Die zentrale Fragestellung ist: (Wie) Bewertet und steuert die Politik Hochschulen über ihre ökonomischen Kennzahlenberichte? Grundlegend wird diskutiert, ob die von den Hochschulen kontinuierlich erstellten Berichte in der Politik überhaupt eine Verwendung haben.

Falls dies der Fall ist, wie die Kennzahlenberichte von politischen Akteurinnen und Akteuren genutzt werden. Welchen Effekt haben beispielsweise die Hochschulstatistiken bei den zukünftigen Verhandlungen über Ziel- und Leistungsvereinbarungen? Welchen Effekt der kaufmännische Jahresabschluss, wenn es um die zukünftige Finanzierung der Hochschule geht? Und in welchem Sinne lässt die Politik Aspekte der Hochschulstatistiken in ihre Analyse einfließen?

Dr. Michaela Pook-Kolb

Topic of the thesis  (in cooperation with Friederike Knoke):

Teilen oder nicht teilen – Die Logik des Schützens von Forschungsdaten (2020)

Dr. Vitus Püttmann

Topic of the thesis:

On the Organization of University-Firm Collaborations – Forms and Their Determinants from a Transaction Cost Theory Perspective

Interactive forms of knowledge transfer between university researchers and firms have emerged as a crucial part of the innovation systems of contemporary societies. However, key features of these collaborations, including the ways in which they are organized, remain poorly understood to date. Focusing on consulting assignments, contract research projects and research collaborations, the dissertation project investigates a) which contractual features and governance mechanisms – that is, organizational forms – cooperating parties deploy to coordinate their objectives and activities, and b) how differences in the choice of organizational forms can be explained. To answer the research questions, an analytical framework building on transaction cost theory is developed, which revolves around an explanatory model for the choice of organizational forms of university-firm collaborations. Hypotheses derived from that model are, subsequently, tested empirically based on a survey of actors involved in university-firm collaborations in the natural and engineering sciences in Germany.

Marco Miguel Valero Sanchez

Thema der Dissertation:

Wissenschaftliche Karriereverläufe von Postdoktorand*innen mit Behinderung und/oder chronischer Krankheit

Im Mittelpunkt der Dissertation stehen wissenschaftliche Karriereverläufe von Postdoktorand*innen mit Behinderung und/oder chronischer Krankheit an Hochschulen und dabei die übergeordnete Frage, welche Bedingungen und Möglichkeiten den langfristigen Verbleib dieser Personen im Wissenschaftssystem fördern bzw. hemmen. Hierzu soll auf der Makroebene der Hochschulgovernance eine Analyse der Rahmenbedingungen, Strukturen und Steuerungselemente an deutschen Hochschulen vorgenommen werden, die die Inklusion der Betroffenen beeinflussen. Um den Zugang zu diesem sensiblen Forschungsfeld zu erschließen, sollen zudem Experteninterviews insbesondere mit (Schwer-)Behinderten-, Inklusions- und Gleichstellungsbeauftragten sowie Personalverantwortlichen geführt werden. Über diese Gesprächspartner*innen soll auch der Kontakt zu Postdoktorand*innen mit Behinderung und/oder chronischer Krankheit hergestellt werden, um mit ihnen problemzentrierte Interviews über den Umgang mit Behinderung und/oder chronischer Krankheit und deren Bewältigung im Arbeitsalltag, strukturelle Barrieren sowie konkrete Unterstützungsleistungen und Förderbedarfe zu führen. Dadurch ergibt sich die Möglichkeit, die die Auswirkungen von Behinderung und/oder chronischer Krankheit auf die Erwerbstätigkeit an Hochschulen zu untersuchen und dabei einen relevanten Forschungsbeitrag zur Chancengerechtigkeit im wissenschaftlichen Qualifizierungs- und Karriereverlauf aus Sicht der Betroffenen zu leisten.

Saskia-Rabea Schrade

Topic of the thesis (see DFG Project):

Dr. Thorben Sembritzki

Topic of the thesis: 

Binnendifferenzierung der Professur – Analysen zu den sich wandelnden Strukturen des zentralen Stellentypus im deutschen Hochschulsystem (2020)

Dr. Lisa Walther

Instruments for Quality Assurance in Professorial Appointment Procedures – An Empirical Analysis of German Universities (2024). (Link: https://doi.org/10.15488/15783)

The starting point of the cumulative dissertation is the increasing need for legitimation of professorial appointment procedures at German universities. For this, two drivers can be identified: The first is the academic and science policy discourse on appointment practices at universities. The second is the New Public Management reforms, which have led to increased autonomy for universities. One consequence of this development is the implementation and further development of quality assurance instruments accomplish this complex decision-making process. The framework of the cumulative dissertation deals with the role of quality assurance measures in professorial appointment procedures at state universities in Germany. The different articles focus on two measures that are intended to ensure the quality of the professorial personnel selection process: the use of external reviews to assess the shortlist of candidates and the monitoring of appointments by officers for appointment procedures.

Leonie Weißenborn

Topic of the thesis:

Reforms in Science and the Innovation Capability and Ability to Resistance of the Scientific Field

My research interest in general is about changes and reforms of orthodox leading cultures of the scientific field. These changes and reforms are initiated either by innovative ideas and motives or by reorganizations of structures and institutions in higher education system and research. I am specifically interested on the innovation capability and the ability to resistance of the scientific field by means of various innovations. First, I deal with the arrangement of grant proposals for exceptional research. Surprisingly, we know very little about the approaches scientists take to arrange unconventional ideas in conventional ways that still relate to recognized concepts. Second, I look at the implementation of tenure-track professorships at German universities in terms of a change in recruitment culture of professors is associated to the implementation process.