Full Professorship „Sustainability and Innovation“ (W3)
2025-11-27 THE SCHOOL OF SUSTAINABILITY AT LEUPHANA UNIVERSITY LÜNEBURG INVITES APPLICATIONS FOR THE FOLLOWING FULL PROFESSORSHIP:
Sustainability and Innovation (W3)
You conduct research on sustainability and innovation at an internationally leading academic level. Your interdisciplinary research and teaching on sustainability and innovation demonstrate relevance to neighboring disciplines, including for example public policy, sustainability transitions, technology management, circularity, and regeneration or corporate sustainability. Your internationally positioned research profile and network of partners inside and outside academia documents your broad impact in the area of how innovations can and do contribute to sustainability transitions of the economy and society. Your research is characterized by sophisticated empirical methodologies and is founded in theories linked to sustainability and innovation.
Based on management and sustainability research, you deal with phenomena such as initiation, creation, emergence, implementation, and scaling of sustainability innovations, as well as how innovation processes affect sustainable development. You also investigate topics related to societal transitions towards sustainable development, such as the role of regulations, (corporate) entrepreneurship, the take-up of innovations by consumers, as well as different processes of innovation such as collaborative, incremental, and radical approaches of innovation management, financing, organizing, and fostering sustainability innovation.
Your research fosters the development of theories and management research methods in the domains of sustainability and innovation. The scientific goal of your research is to contribute to the development of concepts and approaches to promote sustainable development with a clear focus on sustainability and innovation.
You have a strong publication record in international, peer-reviewed scientific journals. You have successfully acquired third-party funding, ideally funded by well-established research funding organizations (DFG or comparable funding programs).
You are a passionate lecturer of bachelor's and master's students and have interest or experience in also teaching courses for PhD-students or executive education. You have proven experience in the supervision of students (bachelor, master, and Ph.D.) (relative to opportunity) and can document your teaching experiences in seminars, and ideally also lectures, in the subject areas of this professorship. You have successfully supervised theses, ideally also doctoral theses, in the subject area of the chair. You can present a clear and convincing strategy for (further) developing your research group, including activities to attract third-party funding.
The professional position will be filled in accordance with pay grade W3 (university full professorship). Formal requirements according to § 25 of the Lower Saxony Higher Education Act (NHG) include a university degree in management, sustainability science or other relevant social sciences and a doctoral degree relevant to the open position; aptitude for teaching; an ability to engage in independent academic research as demonstrated by the above-average quality of the PhD dissertation; and additional academic achievements obtained e.g. in the course of being an assistant professor, during postdoctoral lecture qualification (German: Habilitation) or other achievements recognized as being equivalent to a post-doctoral qualification.
At Leuphana you will find an academic community that is open to changes in perspective and cultivates the dialogue among the different disciplines as well as between research and practice. With spirit and initiative, we address the challenges of civil society in the 21st century. Pursuing our idea of liberal education, our students are enabled to think, question and act upon it. Our professors foster the awareness of gender and diversity aspects in teaching as well as research.
Leuphana University is an equal opportunities employer. The university aims to increase its number of female professors. Qualified women are especially invited to apply. Severely disabled applicants and applicants with equivalent status will be considered preferentially in accordance with the applicable legal provisions.
For further information, please contact the Dean of the School of Sustainability, Prof. Dr. Harald Heinrichs (harald.heinrichs@leuphana.de) or Prof. Dr. Jacob Hörisch (jacob.hoerisch@leuphana.de) at the Center of Sustainability Management.
Please submit your application consisting of the following documents in two separate PDF files: a) motivation letter, CV, copies of academic degrees and b) your three most relevant publications. Please enclose the completed application form (as Excel file) with your documents in the English language. Guidance on the required application materials can be found here.
Applications should be sent preferably by email using the keyword “Sustainability and Innovation” (W3) to beko@leuphana.de or to the President of Leuphana University of Lüneburg, Post Box 2440, Lüneburg D-21314 by January 21, 2026. Please be aware that we cannot return application documents sent physically.
By submitting your application, you consent to your data being stored and processed for the purpose of the recruitment process. Please note our Data Protection Notice for Applicants (in English or in German).
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