Prof. Dr. Jens Newig
Professor,
Professorship of Governance and Sustainability
Associated member, Center for the Study of Democracy
Associated member, Center for the Study of Democracy
Vita
- ERC Advanced Grant holder (10/2026 -)
- Head, Institute for Sustainability Governance (INSUGO), Leuphana University (11/2019 -)
- Professor (W3) at Leuphana University Lüneburg (2014 - )
- ERC Starting Grant holder (2011 - 2016)
- Professor (W2) at Leuphana University Lüneburg (2010 - 2014)
- Assistant professor at the Institute of Environmental Systems Research, Osnabrück University (12/2001 until 05/2010)
- Habilitation on Environmental Governance in the Light of Participation and Effectiveness: Case Studies and Models, University of Osnabrück
- Temporary professorship at Leuphana University Lüneburg (10/2008 until 09/2009)
- Doctoral degree (Dr. iur.) on Environmental Law from Dresden Technical University with a scholarship of the Volkswagen Foundation (summa cum laude) (1999-2002)
- Strategic Management Consultancy, Gemini Consulting, Bad Homburg (1998)
- Diploma in geo-ecology (environmental sciences) at Bayreuth University (1998)
- Maîtrise and Ingénieur-Maître in Gestion et Génie de l’Environnement at Université Paris 7 (scholar of the German Academic Exchange Service) (1996)
- Scholar of the German National Academic Foundation (1992-1998)
For details on publications, please visit http://sustainability-governance.net/jens-newig
Visit our research group's blog at http://sustainabilitygovernance.net.
Teaching
- Environmental studies
- Sustainability Sciences
- College "Study Reflexion"
Research Interests
- Societal transitions to sustainability
- Environmental Politics, Policy and Governance for Sustainable Development
- Participatory Governance and collaborative decision processes
- Environmental and sustainability communication
- Effectiveness and legitimacy of governance in multi-level systems
- Evidence-based governance and public management
- Learning and networks in steering complex systems in the context of natural resource management; social network analysis
- Comparative analysis, case study meta-analysis, field experiments
- Agenda setting, issue attention cycles
- Water policy and water resources management
- Sustainable agriculture and sustainable land management
- Science communication, integration of natural and social sciences in inter- and transdisciplinary research
Projects
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Global Assessment of Participation in Sustainability Governance
Jens Newig (Project manager, academic)
→Project: Research
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Embracing Transformation: Democratic Resilience — Democracy’s Sustainability in the Global Polycrisis Era
Jens Newig (Project manager, academic) , Astrid Séville (Project manager, academic) , Christian Welzel (Project manager, academic) , Michael Rose (Coordination) , Lennart Bade (Project staff)
→Project: Research
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Research Consortium ‘Sustainability governance of global value chains’
Jens Newig (Project manager, academic) , Andrea Lenschow (Co-Projectmanager, academic) , Franca Bülow (Coordination) , Barbara Ehbauer (Project staff) , Jelto Makris (Project staff) , Jelena Bäumler (Co-Projectmanager, academic) , Elke Schüßler (Co-Projectmanager, academic) , Stefan Schaltegger (Co-Projectmanager, academic) , Patrick Velte (Co-Projectmanager, academic) , Frank Teuteberg (Co-Projectmanager, academic) , Alexander Schall (Co-Projectmanager, academic) , Martin Franz (Project manager, academic) , Christian Busse (Project manager, academic) , Jann Lay (Project manager, academic) , Henrike Jost (Project staff) , Kathleen Evers (Project staff) , Nora Große (Project staff) , Finn Jonas Bongert (Project staff) , Sofyia Pohurskyy (Project staff) , Frederik Kamphues (Project staff) , Philip Verfürth (Project staff) , Satwant Dahiya (Project staff) , Jia Zuo (Project staff) , Frauke Steglich (Project staff) , Saumya Satishbhai Raval (Project staff)
→Project: Research
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Planning Land Use Strategies: Meeting biodiversity, climate and social objectives in a Changing world.
Jens Newig (Project manager, academic) , Xinran Wang (Project manager, academic)
→Project: Research
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Next Water Governance
Jens Newig (Project manager, academic) , Shahana Bilalova (Project staff)
→Project: Research
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Operationalising telecouplings for solving sustainability challenges related to land use
Jens Newig (Project manager, academic) , Johanna Coenen (Project staff) , Edward Challies (Project staff)
→Project: Research
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Governance of Environmental Sustainability in Telecoupled Systems of Global Inter-Regional Connectedness
Andrea Lenschow (Project manager, academic) , Jens Newig (Project manager, academic) , Edward Challies (Project manager, academic) , Benedetta Cotta (Project staff)
→Project: Research
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CAPFLO - Local resilience capacity building for flood mitigation
Jens Newig (Project manager, academic) , Elisa Kochskämper (Project staff)
→Project: Research
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Modes of sustainability-related research in comparison (MONA): Modes of research and their impact on scientific and societal project outcomes - a comparative analysis of 100 third-party funded sustainability-related research projects
Jens Newig (Partner) , Daniel J. Lang (Project manager, academic) , Stephanie Jahn (Project staff) , Judith Kahle (Project staff)
→Project: Research
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Rural development through governance of multifunctional agricultural land use (MULTAGRI). Work package 5: Governance challenges to encourage landscape-scale uptake of appropriate management actions
Jens Newig (Project manager, academic) , Joern Fischer (Project manager, academic) , Alexandra-Maria Klein (Project manager, academic)
→Project: Research
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Evaluating the Delivery of participatory environmenal Governance using an Evidence-based research design
Jens Newig (Project manager, academic) , Nicolas Wilhelm Jager (Project staff) , Edward Challies (Project manager, academic)
→Project: Research
Publications
Books and anthologies
- Knowledge Cumulation in Environmental Governance Research
Michael Rose (Editor) , Jens Newig (Editor) , Sina Leipold (Editor) , 2026Research output: Books and anthologies › Special Journal issue › Research
Journal contributions
- Rethinking scientific progress in the social sciences: disruptive or cumulative?
Jens Newig (Author) , Michael Rose (Author) , Zühre Aksoy (Author) , Simon Beaudoin (Author) , Thomas Bolognesi (Author) , Oliver Fritsch (Author) , Dries Hegger (Author) , Benjamin Hofmann (Author) , Nicolas W. Jager (Author) , Elke Kellner (Author) , Sina Leipold (Author) , Åsa Persson (Author) , Hens Runhaar (Author) , Robert Webb (Author) , 01.05.2026 , in: Research Policy, 55, 4 , 11 p.Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review
- Governing the trade-off between the co-production of actionable knowledge and academic publishing in transdisciplinary sustainability research
Tom Dedeurwaerdere (Author) , Jens Newig (Author) , Stephanie Jahn (Author) , 01.02.2026 , in: Environmental Science and Policy, 176 , 13 p.Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review
- Paradigms of water governance: a systematic review
Jens Newig (Author) , Dave Huitema (Author) , Johanna K.L. Koehler (Author) , Shahana Bilalova (Author) , Nicolas W. Jager (Author) , 01.01.2026 , in: Ecology and Society, 31, 1 , 20 p.Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review
- Successful water governance pathways across problem contexts: a global qualitative comparative analysis
Nicolas W. Jager (Author) , Jens Newig (Author) , Sergio Villamayor-Tomas (Author) , Shahana Bilalova (Author) , 01.10.2025 , in: Ecology and Society, 30, 4 , 36 p.Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review
- Now you see me, now you don’t: the role and relevance of paradigms in water governance
Nina Valin (Author) , Alejandra Francisca Burchard-Levine (Author) , Andrea K. Gerlak (Author) , Dave Huitema (Author) , Nicolas W. Jager (Author) , Dona H. Geagea (Author) , Johanna K.L. Koehler (Author) , Jens Newig (Author) , Radhika Singh (Author) , Hannah Porada (Author) , Javier Rodríguez Ros (Author) , Shahana Bilalova (Author) , 01.10.2025 , in: Ecology and Society, 30, 4 , 17 p.Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review
- How to Assess Knowledge Cumulation in Environmental Governance Research? Conceptual and Empirical Explorations
Jens Newig (Author) , Michael Rose (Author) , 01.08.2025 , in: Environmental Policy and Governance, 35, 4 , p. 662-681 , 20 p.Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review
- System capacities and implementation challenges in Germany's electric vehicle policy mix: an actor-centered review of the policy mix
Paul Upham (Author) , Jens Newig (Author) , Lea Gathen (Author) , 01.08.2025 , in: Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 218 , 12 p.Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review
- Does participatory governance help address long-term environmental problems?: Conceptualization and evidence from 23 democracies
Michael Rose (Author) , Jens Newig (Author) , Nicolas Wilhelm Jager (Author) , 21.07.2025 , in: Policy Studies , p. 1-25 , 25 p.Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review
Courses
This lecture offers a comprehensive and advanced introduction to environmental and sustainability governance. It aims to provide a thorough understanding of key concepts and theoretical approaches in this field and their application to real-world cases. The lecture explores the functioning of governance systems in the development and implementation of public policies that address pressing environmental and sustainability issues at local, national, and international levels. The lecture focuses on both the structural and procedural aspects of governance.
The topics covered in this lecture may include: Governance of the commons; Public and stakeholder participation; Collaborative governance; Evidence-informed governance; Adaptive governance and governance learning; Multi-level and transboundary governance; Private actor and network governance; Risk governance; Policy coherence and policy-mixes; International regimes (e.g., climate, biodiversity); Governance of global value chains; Governing sustainability transitions; Policy and institutional change.
The topics covered in this lecture may include: Governance of the commons; Public and stakeholder participation; Collaborative governance; Evidence-informed governance; Adaptive governance and governance learning; Multi-level and transboundary governance; Private actor and network governance; Risk governance; Policy coherence and policy-mixes; International regimes (e.g., climate, biodiversity); Governance of global value chains; Governing sustainability transitions; Policy and institutional change.