Final Theses
If you would like to write your Bachelor or Master thesis in the department "Innovation Management", please proceed as follows:
| Summer Term | Winter Term | |
| Registration in MyStudy until | 15.02. | 22.08. |
| Allocation of the topic | Beginning of March | Beginning of September |
| Colloquium | April - June | October - December |
| Registration | by arrangement | by arrangement |
| Work submission | at the end of the semester | at the end of the semester |
Application process:
Please apply by e-mail (innovation@leuphana.de) and via MyStudy in the module "Betreuungsangebote für Abschlussarbeiten" between 15.11. and 15.02. (summer term) or 12.07. and 22.08. (winter term) for the supervision of your thesis. Please send us an exposé of your project (about 1-2 pages). You can apply for one of the advertised topics (see below) or make your own suggestions, which should, however, fit in with our subject areas. You can write your paper in English or German. Approximately two weeks after your application you will be informed whether you can write your thesis with us.
You can also find all information about the award procedure here:
TOPICS:
Innovation and Change for Sustainable Urban Development in Bergen (Lower Saxony).
Our project focuses on the question of how actors and structures of a city can contribute to sustainable urban development. With the help of literature research and qualitative research methods, we will investigate how knowledge and competences for sustainable development are built up and used in the city of Bergen, how sustainable social and economic structures are or how they are created, and how an awareness and a culture of living together for sustainable development can be passed on in the process.
To achieve more sustainable urban development, innovations are needed that address key problems of the city and creatively use the tensions between emergent and planned or strategic renewal, between 'bottom-up' movements and 'top-down' planning, and between innovations and (preserving) frameworks for action. The field of investigation is the positions and concerns of different (stakeholder) groups and organizations in the city, such as municipal administration, educational institutions, citizens and businesses. We aim to investigate the indicators, causes and consequences of the emergence of such a change that strengthens sustainable development. We want to evaluate the conditions that can be impulse and support for the transformation of urban structures and processes towards practices and lifestyles that promote sustainable development.
Each thesis in the project will be dedicated to a specific stakeholder group:
- Economy (specialized if necessary, e.g. crafts, agriculture, renewable energies, trade, service providers ...).
- Citizens, different population groups
- Farmers
- Administration
- Culture / (sports) clubs and associations
- Initiatives (with focus on sustainability, e.g. sharing offers, participation structures, alternative economy etc.)
- Hunters/hunting/forestry cooperative
- Politics
- Schools
- ...
Qualitative and conceptual work is possible in this project! Your own ideas on how to deal with this topic are very welcome!
If you would like to write your bachelor thesis in this project, then we will work together in the bachelor forum to develop a view of the city of Bergen and develop foundations for data collection and evaluation.
Tasks of the individual bachelor thesis are:
- Literature research
- Research on the respective stakeholder group and their respective demands on and influences on sustainable urban development
- Specification of the interview guidelines
- Conducting, transcribing and evaluating the interviews with stakeholders
- Integration of the results into the project context
Please send us a synopsis of your project (approx. 1-2 pages).
Further topics:
Bachelor theses
Topic | Introductory literature (peer-reviewed) | Explanation |
Urban commons and communing in cities
| C. Borch & M. Kornberger (Eds.), Urband commons: Rethinking the city, (pp. 11-31). London: Routledge | Conceptual (e.g. systematic literature review) or with an qualitative study e.g. with the GFAZ in Hanover |
Alternative economic models for sustainable development of cities or regions: The case of … | Gibbs, D., Krueger, R., and MacLeod, G. 2013. Grappling with smart city politics in an era of market triumphalism.Urban Studies, 50(11): 2151-2157. (intro to Special Issue) Eisenhardt, K. M. (1989), Building theories from case study research, Academy of Management Review, Vol. 14, No. 4, S. 532–550. | Case to be researched from publicly accessible sources and possibly expert interviews; e.g. Bristol pound, Sharing economy |
Innovations for sustainable development of cities or regions: The case of… | Hodson, M., Geels, F. W., & McMeekin, A. (2017). Reconfiguring urban sustainability transitions, analysing multiplicity. Sustainability, 9(2), 299. De Jong, M.; Joss, S.; Schraven, D.; Zhan, C.; Weijnen, M. Sustainable-smart-resilient-low-carbon-eco- knowledge cities; making sense of a multitude of concepts promoting sustainable urbanization. Journal of Cleaner Production 2015, 109, 25–38. Eisenhardt, K. M. (1989), Building theories from case study research, Academy of Management Review, Vol. 14, No. 4, S. 532–550. | Case to be researched from publicly accessible sources and possibly expert interviews |
Perception and acceptance of technology-based products: an integrative literature review regarding genetically modified organisms (GMO) | Fernbach, P. M., Light, N., Scott, S. E., Inbar, Y., & Rozin, P. (2019). Extreme opponents of genetically modified foods know the least but think they know the most. Nature Human Behaviour, 3(3), 251-256. Tranfield, D., Denyer, D., & Smart, P. (2003). Towards a methodology for developing evidence‐informed management knowledge by means of systematic review. British Journal of Management, 14(3), 207-222. | Systematic literature review |
Master Theses
Topic | Introductory literature (peer-reviewed) | Explanation |
The tension between innovation and institution: designing understanding in the fashion industry
| Hargadon, A. B., and Douglas, Y. (2001). When innovations meet institutions: Edison and the design of the electric light. Administrative Science Quarterly, 46(3): 476-501.
Pedersen, E. R. G., Gwozdz, W. (2014). From resistance to opportunity-seeking: Strategic responses to institutional pressures for corporate social responsibility in the Nordic fashion industry. Journal of Business Ethics, 119(2), 245-264 | Case to be researched from publicly accessible sources and possibly expert interviews; company that is covered in the press |
The tension between innovation and institution: designing understanding in the meat industry | Hargadon, A. B., and Douglas, Y. (2001). When innovations meet institutions: Edison and the design of the electric light. Administrative Science Quarterly, 46(3): 476-501.
| |
Mechanisms for transition: An exploration of the fashion industry |
Johnson, M.P., Schaltegger, S. 2019. Entrepreneurship for sustainable development: A review and multilevel causal mechanism framework. Entrepreneurship Theory & Practice. | Either conceptual or analyzing a particular case |
Mechanisms for transition: An exploration of the meat industry | Either conceptual or analyzing a particular case | |
The relationship between entrepreneurs and adopters: an integrative literature review | Torraco, R.J. 2016. Writing integrative literature reviews: using the past and present to explore the future. Human resource Development Review 15(4): 404-428 | conceptual |