Doctoral Thesis

Working Title:
Toward Sustainable Industrial Path Development: Green Hydrogen Transitions in Structurally Diverse Regions

Supervisors:
Univ.-Prof. Dr. sc. pol. Artem Korzhenevych, IOER and Dresden University of Technology (TUD)
Univ.-Prof. Dr.-Ing. Robert Knippschild, IOER and Dresden University of Technology (TUD)

TUD Faculty:
Faculty of Environmental Sciences  

IOER Research Area:
Transformative Capacities

Abstract:
Innovations are not inherently progressive, but reflect the interests and structures of their creating system, and may lead to creative destruction or destructive creation. If innovations are embedded in systems that prioritise technological competitiveness and short-term growth over contributing to the resolution of societal challenges, they may exacerbate challenges such as inequality, ecological degradation, and climate change. In response, scholars have increasingly called for the reorganisation of innovation systems towards solving grand societal challenges. In this interlude of economic growth and the transition to clean energy, green hydrogen (GH2) has emerged as a key component. GH2 partnerships between producers and consumers – for example, between Namibia and Germany – are promoted as a way of decarbonising hard-to-abate industries in the Global North, while enabling green industrialisation and leapfrogging in the Global South. Such pathways towards sustainable development are challenged by underlying power imbalances between the Global North and South, and a growing directionality towards sovereignty among states in times of increasing geopolitical turmoil. These debates thus underscore the need to examine how geographical factors shape contributions to sustainability transitions based on GH2. To this end, this PhD project will draw insights from three case studies representing different types of industrial regions, thus addressing the specific problems of green industrial transformation in these regions in form of trade-offs and synergies between ecological, economic and social priorities, while simultaneously deriving theoretical and conceptual insights on the development, diffusion and embedding of GH2 innovation subsystems (knowledge, production and market), and the actors involved. Finally aiming to draw conclusions about multi-scalar innovation system reconfiguration in ways that align with grand societal challenges.

CV

Education:

Since 03/2026
Doctoral Candidate at the Dresden Leibniz Graduate School (DLGS)

10/2022 - 08/2025
University of Cologne
M.Sc. Geography

10/2018 - 07/2022
University of Cologne
B.A. Geography and African Languages and Cultures 

Professional Experience:

04/2024-03/2026
Research Assistant at the Economic Geography and Global South Studies Working Group (University of Cologne)