Dr. Iris Seidemann

Portrait
21335 Lüneburg, Universitätsallee 1, C40.310
Fon +49.4131.677-1382, iris.seidemann@leuphana.de
Research associate, Institute of Management and Organization
Associated member, Leuphana Center for Organization & Social Transformation

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Vita

Iris Seidemann is an organizational scholar and Postdoctoral Researcher in the structural programme Embracing Transformation within the key subject area Organizing in Times of Crisis at Leuphana University of Lüneburg. She received her doctorate (Dr. rer. pol., summa cum laude) from the University of Hamburg in 2023. She subsequently served as co-coordinator of the transdisciplinary third-party funded project Resilience Building through Multi-Stakeholder Engagement in Anticipatory Action for Climate-Induced Disasters (REBUMAA), which focused on climate adaptation, anticipatory humanitarian action, and resilience building in West Africa. Her research combines qualitative and ethnographic approaches with a process- and practice perspective and examines tensions and paradoxes that emerge across different interfaces of transformation and crisis in organizations and interorganizational networks.

Publications

Journal contributions

  1. The Downward Spiral of Legitimacy Erosion: Lessons on Network Governance Failure During the German “Refugee Crisis”
    Iris Seidemann (Author) , Kristina S. Weißmüller (Author) , Daniel Geiger (Author) , 01.03.2026 , in: Public Administration Review, 86, 2 , p. 397-413 , 17 p.

    Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review

  2. Early Warnings, No Actions: A Practice Perspective on Barriers to Anticipatory Action Approaches
    Pia Geisemann (Author) , Iris Seidemann (Author) , Dorcas Olawuyi (Author) , Daniel Geiger (Author) , 01.12.2025 , in: Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management, 33, 4 , 14 p.

    Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review

  3. Anticipatory Action in River Flooding Risk Management in Nigeria: An Assessment of Community-Level Implementation
    Dorcas Adewumi Olawuyi (Author) , Adeniyi Sulaiman Gbadegesin (Author) , Dickson ‘Dare Ajayi (Author) , Peter Oyedele (Author) , Daniel Geiger (Author) , Iris Seidemann (Author) , Pia Geisemann (Author) , Samantha Sansone (Author) , Fatimah Nasir (Author) , Oloche Percy Antenyi (Author) , Francis Salako (Author) , Judith Agada (Author) , Patience Adaje (Author) , 01.12.2025 , in: Journal of Flood Risk Management, 18, 4 , 12 p.

    Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review

  4. Blinded by the Light: A critique on the universality, normativity, and hegemony of paradox theory and research
    Iris Seidemann (Author) , 01.10.2024 , in: Organization Theory, 5, 4 , p. 1-25 , 25 p.

    Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review

  5. Conceptual foundations of workforce homogeneity in the public sector. Insights from a systematic review on causes, consequences, and blind spots
    Iris Seidemann (Author) , Kristina S. Weißmüller (Author) , 01.01.2024 , in: Public Management Review, 26, 2 , p. 334-356 , 23 p.

    Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review

View all publications

Activities

  1. From Decoupling to Disentangling: A Radical Practice Ontology for Grand Challenges
    Iris Seidemann (Speaker) , Paula Jarzabkowski (Speaker) , Fannie Couture (Speaker)
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    Activity: Conference Presentations › Research

  2. Drifting into disconnect: The emergence of inverted path dependence in addressing climate-induced disasters
    Iris Seidemann (Speaker) , Daniel Geiger (Speaker)
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    Activity: Conference Presentations › Research

  3. Vorausschauendes Handeln: Eine Untersuchung darüber, wer zurückbleibt und wie die Kluft geschlossen werden kann
    Iris Seidemann (Speaker)
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    Activity: Conference Presentations › Transfer

  4. Caught in a Trap: The Co-Creation of Paradoxes in Processes of Legitimacy Repair
    Iris Seidemann (Speaker) , Daniel Geiger (Speaker)
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    Activity: Conference Presentations › Research

  5. Nobody said it was easy: From collaboration practices to system dynamics in tackling grand challenges
    Iris Seidemann (Speaker) , Daniel Geiger (Speaker)
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    Activity: Conference Presentations › Research

View all activities

Prizes

  1. Best Paper 2023 AOM Annual Meeting Proceedings
    Iris Seidemann (Recipient) ,

    Prize: external Prizes, scholarships, distinctions, appointments › Research

View all prizes

Courses

Interdisciplinary Crisis Research
Iris Seidemann
⌄
Across multiple disciplines, scholars increasingly describe the present as a condition of polycrisis: a situation in which multiple crises unfold simultaneously, interact across systems, and generate cascading and non-linear effects (Henig & Knight, 2023; Tooze, 2022). Climate change, geopolitical conflict, democratic erosion, technological disruption, economic volatility, and public health emergencies are analyzed not as isolated phenomena but as interdependent and mutually reinforcing dynamics. This perspective challenges traditional understandings of crisis as a temporally bounded disruption that can be clearly identified and managed (Bundy et al., 2017), and instead foregrounds questions of structural vulnerability, governance capacity, leadership, and legitimacy.

This doctoral seminar examines contemporary crisis research across disciplines. Moving from disruption to polycrisis and persistent instability, the course explores how crises are conceptualized, how they become visible and actionable, and how organizing and governance respond under sustained uncertainty (Boin, 2024). Particular attention is given to critically examining taken-for-granted concepts such as vulnerability, resilience, crisis leadership, and crisis communication from multiple theoretical and interdisciplinary perspectives (Vogus & Sutcliffe, 2007). The aim is to develop a shared conceptual foundation and to enable participants to situate their own research projects within current debates on organizing in times of crisis, including questions of coordination, power, legitimacy, and collective response.
Next appointment:
Tuesday, 2026-04-28 at 09:30
Room: C 14.204 Seminarraum
PoE: Entrepreneurship in Refugee Contexts: Between Empowerment and Constraint
Iris Seidemann
⌄
Mass displacement, refugee crises, and the establishment of refugee camps have become defining features of the contemporary global landscape. These contexts highlight pressing challenges of inequality, marginalization, and limited access to resources, while also serving as spaces of creativity, resilience, and entrepreneurial agency. Refugees and displaced communities engage in diverse forms of entrepreneurship, ranging from survival- and necessity-based ventures to transformative social and cultural initiatives. At the same time, refugee entrepreneurs navigate tensions between dependency and self-determination, exclusion and inclusion, and inequality and empowerment.
This seminar explores these dynamics through the lens of entrepreneurship research. Drawing on interdisciplinary scholarship, we examine how entrepreneurial activities unfold under conditions of crisis and constraint, and how they reshape our understanding of agency, innovation, and value creation in fragile and crisis contexts.
Next appointment:
Monday, 2026-04-27 at 10:15
Room: C 12.010 Seminarraum