Prof. Dr. Melanie Jaeger-Erben (head of department)

Melanie Jaeger-Erben has been Professor of Sociology of Technology and the Environment at BTU Cottbus - Senftenberg since 01.10.2021. Previously, she headed the department of Transdisciplinary Sustainability Research in Electronics at TU Berlin.
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Melanie-Jaeger-Erben
Stages
- Studied psychology and sociology at the Universities of Göttingen and Uppsala (Sweden).
- Postgraduate course in 'Qualitative Social and Educational Research' at the Centre for Educational, Counselling and Social Research in Magdeburg (graduated 2009).
- Doctorate in Sociology (2010) at the Technical University of Berlin (TUB) from (Title of thesis: „Zwischen Routine, Reflektion und Transformation – die Veränderung von alltäglichem Konsum durch Lebensereignisse und die Rolle von Nachhaltigkeit“) (Between routine, reflection and transformation - the change of everyday consumption through life events and the role of sustainability)
- 2004 to 2008 research assistant in the teaching and research unit Environmental Psychology at the University of Magdeburg.
- 2008 to 2013 and from 2016 to early 2019 research associate at the Zentrum Technik und Gesellschaft der TUB (Centre for Technology and Society at TUB).
- 2013-2016 she worked as an external consultant in the Wissenschaftlichen Beirat der Bundesregierung für globale Umweltveränderungen (WBGU) (German Advisory Council on Global Change)
- Winter semester 2018/2019 substitute for the W3 professorship "Anthropogeographie mit Schwerpunkt Mensch-Umwelt-Beziehungen" (Anthropogeography with a focus on human-environment relations) at LMU Munich
Functions and further engagements
- Member of the Sachverständigenkommission für den vierten Gleichstellungsbericht der Bundesregierung (2023-2025)
- Co-Lead of the working group "Energy Transitions in the Built Environment" im Acadmy project "Future of Energy Systems - ESYS" (2023-2024)
- Member of the Ressourcenkommission des Umweltbundesamts (Resources Commission of the Federal Environment Agency)
- Member of the Board of the Hans-Sauer-Foundation (seit 2022)
- Member of the Auswahlgremiums für Stipendien der Deutschen Bundesstiftung Umwelt (selection committee for scholarships of German Federal Foundation for the Environment)
- Lecturer at the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung (Rosa Luxemburg Foundation)
- Board member of the Instituts für Sozialinnovation e. V. (ISInova) ( Institute for Social Innovation)
- Partner of the Instituts für Sozialinnovation Consulting UG (ISIconsult) ( Institute for Social Innovation Consulting UG)
- Associate Editor of theSoziologie und Nachhaltigkeit (Sociology and Sustainabiliy) and GAIA
- Member of scientific working groups: Working Group "Circular Economy" and Working Group "Sozialer Wandel" (Social Change) in the Future Earth Knowledge-Action Network Systems of Sustainable Consumption and Production, Member of Working Group 1 "Circular Business Models" of the Circular Economy Initiative Deutschland (CEID) (Circular Economy Initiative Germany) of acatech - German Academy of Science and Engineering.
Working focus
- Social science technology research
- Sustainable consumption and production systems
- Social innovation and social change
- Qualitative research methods, mixed methods and participatory procedures
Current courses
Winter semester 2023/24:
Most important publications in the last 10 years
Rabiu, M. K., & Jaeger-Erben, M. (2024). Reducing single-use plastic in everyday social practices: Insights from a living lab experiment. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 200, 107303.
Weber, H. & Jaeger-Erben, M. (2023). Circular Economy - Die Wende zu geschlossenen Kreisläufen als stete Fiktion. Baden-Baden: Nomos.
Greene, M., Hobson, K., & Jaeger-Erben, M. (2023). Bringing the circular economy home–Insights from socio-technical perspectives on everyday consumption. Cleaner and Responsible Consumption, 100157.
Hipp, T., Jaeger-Erben, M. (2023). “Doing Value”: How Practices of Assigning Meaning Influence the Usetime of Devices. In: Jonas, M., Nessel, S., Tröger, N. (eds) Repair, Do-It-Yourself and Circular Economy. Springer VS, Wiesbaden. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-40150-4_6
Jaeger-Erben, M., Poppe, E., Wagner, E., Schaefer, A., Druschke, J., Gröger, J., Behrens, F. (2023). Analyse der softwarebasierten Einflussnahme auf eine verkürzte Nutzungsdauer von Produkten. Umweltbundesamt, Texte 13/ 2023.
Yalçın, N. G., Paredis, E., & Jaeger-Erben, M. (2023). Contested discourses of a circular plastics economy in Europe: prioritizing material, economy, or society? Environmental Politics, 1–21. https://doi.org/10.1080/09644016.2023.2192145
Jaeger-Erben, M., Wieser, H., Marwede, M. & Hofmann, F. (2023). Durable Economies - Organising the Material Foundations of Society. transcript Verlag.
Jaeger-Erben, M. & Rigamonti. N. (2023). Citizen Science. In: Sonnberger, M., Bleicher, A., & Groß, M. (2023). Handbuch Umweltsoziologie. Wiesbaden: Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden.
Jaeger-Erben, M., & Hielscher, S. (2022). Verhältnisse reparieren: Wie Reparieren und Selbermachen die Beziehung zur Welt verändert. transcript Verlag.
Barth, T., Jaeger-Erben, M., Jochum, G. & Lorenz, S. (Hg.) (2022): Nachhaltig Werte schaffen? Arbeit und Technik in der sozial-ökologischen Transformation (= Arbeitsgesellschaft im Wandel), Weinheim: Juventa Verlag ein Imprint der Julius Beltz GmbH & Co. KG.
Rabiu, M. K., & Jaeger-Erben, M. (2022). Appropriation and routinisation of circular consumer practices: A review of current knowledge in the circular economy literature. Cleaner and Responsible Consumption, 100081.
Beyeler, L. & Jaeger-Erben, M. (2022): How to make more of less: Characteristics of sufficiency in business practices, in: Frontiers in Sustainability 3.
Jaeger-Erben, M., Jensen, C., Hofmann, F., Zwiers, J. (2021). There is no sustainable circular economy without a circular society. Resources, Conservation and Recycling 168, 105476. DOI: 10.1016/j.resconrec.2021.105476.
Jaeger-Erben, M., Frick, V. & Hipp, T. (2021). Why do users (not) repair their devices? A study of the predictors of repair practices. Journal of Cleaner Production, 286, 125382.10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.125382
Hielscher, S. & Jaeger-Erben, M. (2020). From quick fixes to repair projects: Insights from a citizen science project. Journal of Cleaner Production, 278, 123875. 10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.123875
Jaeger-Erben, M. (2020). Bought today – gone tomorrow. From linear to circular consumption. In: Tudor, T., & Dutra, C. J. (Eds.). (2020). The Routledge Handbook of Waste, Resources and the Circular Economy. Routledge. ISBN 9780367364649
Augenstein, K., Bachmann, B., Egermann, M., Hermelingmeier, V., Hilger, A., Jaeger-Erben, M., et al. (2020). From niche to mainstream: The dilemmas of scaling up sustainable alternatives. GAIA, 29 (3), pp. 143-147. 10.14512/gaia.29.3.3
Zwiers, J., Jaeger-Erben, M. & Hofmann, F. (2020). Circular literacy. A knowledge-based approach to the circular economy. Culture and Organization, 26:2, 121-141. 10.1080/14759551.2019.1709065
Jaeger-Erben, M., Kramm, J., Sonnberger, M., Völker, C., et al. (2018). Building Capacities for Transdisciplinary Research: Challenges and Recommendations for Early-Career Researchers. GAIA (4/2018), 379-386. 10.14512/gaia.27.4.10
John, R., Jaeger-Erben, M. & Rückert-John, J. (2016): Elusive Practices: Considerations on limits and possibilities of environmental policy for sustainable consumption. Journal of Environmental Policy and Governance. 26 (2): 129-140. 10.1002/eet.1706
Jaeger-Erben, M.; Rückert-John, J. (2015). Researching transitions to sustainable consumption: A practice-theory approach to innovation in consumption. In: Putting Sustainability into Practice: Advances and Applications of Social Practice Theories, Edited by Emily Huddart Kennedy, Maurie J. Cohen, and Naomi Krogman. Edward Elgar. pp. 159-184. 10.4337/9781784710606
Jaeger-Erben, M., Rückert-John, J. & M. Schäfer (2015). Sustainable consumption through social innovation: A typology of innovations for sustainable consumption practices. Journal of Cleaner Production, 108, 784-798. 10.1016/j.jclepro.2015.07.042