Research Profile of Leuphana
Transformation — Our university-wide research focus
Leuphana's research agenda addresses the major changes of our time. It focuses on questions related to climate change, globalization, democracy, new models of work and organization, quality of education, digital media, and artificial intelligence:
- How can transformations be identified, described, and analyzed?
- What is the relationship between transformative and disruptive processes?
- What social conflicts, values, and goals accompany these processes or result from them?
The future of societies depends crucially on their ability to reflect on and cope with transformations. Researchers are therefore investigating what transformation is and how it can actively shaped.
How can we improve the quality of school education and teacher training, especially in times of digital transformation, pandemics, displacement, and migration? In light of increasing social complexity and ongoing structural change in schools, Leuphana researchers empirically investigate the conditions of educational reality. They address current issues to initiate transformation processes in the education system, drawing on the fields of educational science, subject didactics, psychology, and sociology.
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Digital technology is permeating the world. The ongoing change is particularily evident in the rapid development of digital media technologies. Leuphana researchers in media theory, cultural theory, business informatics, organizational research, and sociology analyze the transformative potential of digital technology. They pursue cultural-historical, economic, and experimental-performative approaches in order to responsibly shape the digital transformation of society and the economy.
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Sustainability scientists and their stakeholders from research and practice work on concepts and strategies for sustainable development. Using interdisciplinary approaches, researchers examine socio-ecological transformation processes from a natural and social science perspective. In collaborations at the local, regional, and international levels, they investigate sustainable systems and develop solutions to sustainability issues.
Forschungsthemen
- Companies as Drivers of Sustainability Transformations
- Sustainability in Chemistry, Materials and Energy Flows
- Sustainability in Ecosystems and Society
- Sustainability Management
- Toward a Regenerative Society
Forschungseinrichtungen
Current crises such as wars, climate change, and pandemics have global implications for political and legal systems. Researchers at Leuphana from the fields of political science, law, economics, security, and sustainability are investigating the performance and stability of democracy. To this end, they are examining the conditions for resilience, the impact of political action on society, the guarantee of security, and the interrelationships between law and social change.
Research topics
- Cooperative Security
- Democracy Research
- Democratic Resilience: Democracy's Sustainability in the Global Polycrisis Era
- Law in the context of societal transformation
- Sustainability in Governance, Law & Institutions
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Leuphana researchers from the fields of cultural studies, economics, psychology, and sociology investigate the social conflicts, differing values, and options for action associated with current transformation processes. In order to develop a critical diagnosis of the present, they examine the changing individual, interpersonal, economic, and digital condictions in a globalized world from a socio-cultural, political-economic, legal, and technical-scientific perspective.
Forschungsthemen
- Cultures of Conflict
- Cultures of Critique
- Economics: Evidence-based Policy Research
- Psychology of Transformation
- Psychology and Social Transformation
Forschungseinrichtungen
How can we establish more sustainable (digital) practices in business and society? Leuphana researchers view entrepreneurship as a key competence to initiate and promote economic, social, and ecological change. In collaborations with entrepreneurs, decision-makers, and other researchers, they develop foundations for technological and social innovation processes. From an economic, cultural, and psychological perspective, organizational researchers also investigate success factors for sustainable action.
Forschungsthemen
- Entrepreneurship
- Product Development Process
- Sustainability in Management, Entrepreneurship and Psychology
- Organizing in Times of Crisis
- Organization Studies
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Research Information System
Leuphana's Research Information System (PURE) provides quick access to the projects, profiles and publications of the academics working at Leuphana. More


