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Chair of Macroeconomics Univ.-Prof. Dr. rer. pol. habil. Wolfram Berger

Dr Tim Rottleb

Photo: Mitwalli

Tim Rottleb is a postdoc at the Chair of Economics (Macroeconomics) at the Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus-Senftenberg since January 2025. He leads the research group 1, “Vitalisation of regional innovation systems in peripheral spaces” of the BMFTR funded project Centre for Structural Change and Regional Development (ZeStuR). He also co-coordinates the DFG network "Geographies of Economic Ideation and Spatial Transformation” (GEIST).

He studied Middle Eastern Studies with a focus on Political Science (B.A.) at the Philipps University of Marburg, where he also completed a Master's degree in Politics and Economics of the Near and Middle East. In 2024, he received his doctorate in Geography from the Humboldt University of Berlin with the grade Summa cum Laude. In his dissertation in economic geography, he analysed development strategies of governments in the Arab Gulf region which aim to locate branches of foreign universities in special zones and uitilize them in economic transformation processes. The thesis was awarded the 2024 prize of the German Middle East Association for Contemporary Research and Documentation (DAVO) for the best dissertation in the field of contemporary “Oriental Studies”, and 2025 the Peter Meusburger Dissertation Prize ("Peter-Meusburger-Promotionspreis") for oustanding dissertations in the field of „Geography and Knowledge“.

Previous academic stations include the Leibiniz Institute for Research on Society and Space (IRS) and a guest research stay at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel. Outside of academica, Tim Rottleb gained experience as a science manager in the Department of Structural Change at BTU and as an employee of various UN organisations in Berlin and Cairo.

Contact:
Teaching Building 10, Room 417a
T +49 (0) 355 69-3967
tim.rottleb(at)b-tu.de

Office hours:
by appointment by e-mail

 

Teaching

Winter Term 2025-26

  • Module 14494: The Political Economy of Transformation; Wednesday, 15:30-17:00; Laborgebäude 4B - Room B317

Key research areas

  • Globalisation and regional economic transformation
  • Knowledge economy
  • Arab Gulf region
  • Cultural political economy

Research

2025

Kleibert, J. M., Rottleb, T., & Schulze, M. P. (2025). Education hubs. In R. K. Sidhu, Y. Cheng, & J. L. Waters (Eds), Elgar Encyclopedia of the Sociology of Education (pp. 101–104). Edward Elgar Publishing. https://www.elgaronline.com/display/book/9781035315673/9781035315673.xml

Staemmler, J., Rottleb, T., Hosang, K. (2025). Mit Profilentwicklung zur Forschungsstärkung. Ziele, Vorgehen und Konsequenzen. QiW 19(1), 18–25. https://www.universitaetsverlagwebler.de/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/OA-QiW-2025-1-S18_Staemmler-et-al_mit-Deckblatt.pdf

Rottleb, T. (2025). Offshore campus development and the worlding of Dubai as an international education hub. Urban Geography, 46(1), 180–200. https://doi.org/10.1080/02723638.2024.2359316

2024

Rottleb, T. (2024). Building the Knowledge Economy, Transforming Cities? Transnational Education Zones as a Multi-Scalar Development Strategy in the Arab Gulf Region. Springer VS. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-46352-6

Rottleb, T., Schulze, M. P., & Kleibert, J. M. (2024). Germany’s international branch campuses: Neoliberalising the Humboldtian university through the backdoor? Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education, online first, 1–20. https://doi.org/10.1080/03057925.2024.2333517

2023

Kleibert, J. M., Schulze, M. P., Rottleb, T., & Bobée, A. (2023). (Trans)regional embeddedness and the resilience of offshore campuses. Regional Studies, Regional Science, 10(1), 23–32. https://doi.org/10.1080/21681376.2022.2157323

Rottleb, T. (2023). Gateway cities for transnational higher education? Doha, Dubai and Ras al‐Khaimah as regional amplifiers in networks of the ‘global knowledge‐based economy’. Global Networks, 23(4), 901–917. https://doi.org/10.1111/glob.12429

Rottleb, T., & Schmidt, S. (2023). Wissenstransfer als kritische Infrastrukturierung: Vier Thesen zur Gestaltung von Wissenstransfer als Zusammenspiel von Wissenschaft und gesellschaftlicher Innovationsfähigkeit. IRS Dialog, 3/2023. Leibniz-Institut für Raumbezogene Sozialforschung. https://www.econstor.eu/handle/10419/279789

2022

Rottleb, T., & Kleibert, J. M. (2022). Circulation and containment in the knowledge-based economy: Transnational education zones in Dubai and Qatar. Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space, 54(5), 930–948. https://doi.org/10.1177/0308518X221077105

Schulze, M. P., & Rottleb, T. (2022). Case Study: University Offshore Campuses and the Regional Development of Iskandar Malaysia. In The Value of Transnational Education Partnerships (S. 52). British Council. https://www.britishcouncil.org/sites/default/files/value_tne_fullreport.pdf

Rottleb, T., Kleibert, J. M., & Schulze, M. P. (2022). Developing Successful Transnational Education Hubs: Key Challenges for Policy Makers. IRS Dialog, 4/2022. Leibniz-Institut für Raumbezogene Sozialforschung. https://www.econstor.eu/handle/10419/251349

2021

Kleibert, J. M., Bobée, A., Rottleb, T., & Schulze, M. P. (2021). Transnational education zones: Towards an urban political economy of ‘education cities’. Urban Studies, 58(14), 2845–2862. https://doi.org/10.1177/0042098020962418

Kleibert, J. M., Rottleb, T., Schulze, M. P., & Bobée, A. (2021). Strategy first: Ten questions to answer before starting an international campus. IRS Dialog, 2/2021. Leibniz-Institut für Raumbezogene Sozialforschung. https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/235471/1/1761083112.pdf

2020

Kleibert, J. M., Bobée, A., Rottleb, T., & Schulze, M. P. (2020). Global Geographies of Offshore Campuses. Leibniz-Institut für Raumbezogene Sozialforschung. http://hdl.handle.net/10419/223315

Beadle, B., Do, S., El Youssoufi, D., Felder, D., Gorenflos López, J., Jahn, A., Pérez-Bosch Quesada, E., Rottleb, T., Rüter, F., Schanze, J.-L., Stroppe, A.-K., Thater, S., Verrière, A., & Weltin, M. (2020). Being a Doctoral Researcher in the Leibniz Association: 2019 Leibniz PhD Network Survey Report.

2025

Ideas in regional transformation processes: advancing an ideational economic geography. Workshop Relationale Transformationsforschung, Cottbus.

Performing economic imaginaries of regional transformation: an ethnography of stakeholder events in Lusatia. 7th Global Conference on Economic Geography, Worcester, MA, USA.

Auslandscampusse von Universitäten als eine geopolitische Strategie in der knowledge-based economy. Tagung des AK Politische Geographie 2025, Freiburg.

Transnationale Bildungszonen in der arabischen Golfregion als multiskalare Entwicklungsstrategie der „knowledge-based economy”. 17. Rauischholzhausener Symposium zur Wirtschaftsgeographie, Ebsdorfergrund.

2024

Germany’s international branch campuses: Neoliberalising the Humboldtian university through the backdoor? DAAD Wissenschaftswerkstatt, online.

Embedding imaginaries of future development: unpacking the semiotic and material production of the regional transformation process in Lusatia. RSA Annual Conference 2024, Florenz.

Semiotische und materielle Dimensionen der regionalen Transformation der Lausitz. Tagung AK Geographische Energieforschung 2024, Marburg.

2022

Gateway cities of transnational higher education? Doha, Dubai and Ras al-Khaimah as regional amplifiers in the networks of globalizing capitalism. Cosmopolis Lunch Seminar, Brüssel.

Gateways for transnational higher education: How Doha, Dubai and Ras al-Khaimah embed their regional hinterlands in networks of the global knowledge-based economy. 34. Deutscher Orientalistentag, Berlin.

Gateway cities of transnational higher education? Doha, Dubai and Ras al-Khaimah as regional amplifiers in the networks of the global knowledge-based economy. 6th Global Conference on Economic Geography, Dublin.

Worlding Dubai as an international education hub: Offshore campus development and urban imaginaries of a globalizing city. RGS-IBG Annual International Conference 2022, Newcastle.

Developing successful transnational education hubs: what does the research tell us? Mit Schulze, MP. 5th MENA Higher Education Leadership Forum. Dubai/online.

2021

Making a ‘knowledge city’: Worlding Dubai through offshore campus development. AGAPS PhD Workshop 2021, online.

Wenn Universitäten Filialen gründen: Die politische Ökonomie von Offshore-Campussen. Tagung Bildung in der bürgerlichen Gesellschaft —Staat, Kapital und Bildungsidealismus, Regensburg.

Anticipated benefits and missed opportunities of offshore campus imports – experiences from Southeast Asia and the Arab Gulf region. Mit Schulze, MP. Third TNE-Hub Research Symposium, online.

2020

Grounding the spatial figure of the education hub - transnational urban education zones in the United Arab Emirates.Meeting of DFG-Network ‘Spaces of Global Production’, Esch/Belval.

2019

Aufbau einer Wissensökonomie oder urbanes Spektakel? Die Rolle von Transnationalen Urbanen Bildungszonen in den VAE. Deutscher Kongress für Geographie, Kiel.

The university goes offshore: (re)producing markets, knowledge and power. Mit Bobée, A,; Kleibert, JM; Schulze, MP. Forschungswerkstatt Kritische Geographie, Berlin.

Imagining the knowledge economy: Transnational urban education zones in Dubai. IRS Spring Academy, Erkner.