Embracing Transformation: Outstanding Doctoral Opportunities, Including 36 Doctoral Scholarships

What is transformation, and how can it be shaped successfully? Within the ‘Embracing Transformation’ initiative, more than 60 scholars at Leuphana—spanning all career stages—examine diverse forms of transformative change processes. Their work unfolds across five interdisciplinary fields of potential, complemented by the psychology of transformation, and encompasses research, teaching, and the translation of findings to practice. At the integrative center of this endeavor will be the Leuphana Transformation Lab, located in the university’s central building, serving as a collaborative space where all participating scholars, international fellows, and doctoral candidates come together.

Master’s graduates with a strong commitment to understanding transformation processes are offered the opportunity to engage in a unique, university-wide research project that combines discipline-specific and interdisciplinary seminars, workshops, and conferences with cutting-edge international transformation research. “We investigate how globalized societies manage transformation processes, which forms of knowledge are required and where the boundaries of controllability lie,” explains Professor Dr. Erich Hörl, Vice President for Research.

This distinctive and internationally competitive doctoral program offers cutting-edge research methods and state-of-the-art theoretical frameworks. It also integrates the perspectives of the interdisciplinary key subject areas in which the doctoral candidates will conduct their research: ‘Climate Futures in Digital Cultures’, ‘Enterprises as Drivers of the Sustainability Transformation’, ‘Democratic Resilience’, ‘Organizing in Times of Crisis’, ‘On the Path Toward a Regenerative Society’ and the crosscutting ‘Psychology of Transformation’. With this innovative doctoral training, Leuphana seeks to attract outstanding research talent from around the world.

The ‘Embracing Transformation’ program reinforces Leuphana’s profile in the domains of democracy, sustainability, digital cultures, organization and psychology. It is supported with €18.5 million in funding from the Lower Saxony Ministry for Science and Culture and the Volkswagen Foundation.