Funding for CSS director Prof. Dr. Stefan AykutNew Mercator professorship for climate change and society

29 April 2023, by CSS

Photo: UHH/Ohme

How to enforce more climate protection in Germany? What are the biggest obstacles towards CO2-neutrality? These are the questions Prof. Dr. Stefan Aykut wants to address as part of his professorship starting May 1st 2023. Using a new social sciences approach he will conduct an annual study examining Germany's progress in reaching its climate protection goals.

Until now research on climate protection concentrates mainly on technical and economic aspects while Aykut, together with his colleagues of the Cluster of Excellence “Climate, Climatic Change, and Society” (CLICCS), focuses on social drivers like climate protests, climate change litigation and consumer behavior and how they impact social transformation. In doing so, he establishes a new research field at Universität Hamburg's Faculty of Business, Economics and Social Sciences that the university will continue beyond Stiftung Mercator's five year funding period.

By funding Aykuts professorship Stiftung Mercator aims to increase awareness for social processes regarding climate change among politics, media and relevant stakeholders. His studies will give specific recommendations on the social processes politics should start at to advance decarbonization, says Dr. Lars Grotewold, head of climate change division at Stiftung Mercator.

The CSS congratulates Prof. Dr. Stefan Aykut to this special funding and looks forward to its research results.

Please find the press release here [in german only].