The Strategy Development and Research Coordination unit was established within the Scientific Management Team in 2022. The unit currently comprises seven scientific advisors.
Strategy Development and Research Coordination is a central unit within the Wuppertal Institute. As part of the Scientific Management Team, it promotes and provides strategic support for the Institute's scientific work. The seven scientific advisors act as an interface between the office of the Scientific Managing Director, the Research Divisions and units, the Administration Division and the Information and Communication Division.
The unit's tasks include strategic research field development – i.e. defining new fields and building on existing ones, detecting gaps in methodology and areas where cooperation is needed, stimulating collaboration between Divisions and initiating new or improved research processes, structures and topics. Drawing on its scientific expertise, the unit systematically monitors political, social and scientific developments with a view to identifying new opportunities for the Wuppertal Institute's research programme. A further responsibility of the Unit is to promote networking and collaboration with external partners, such as universities and other research institutes, in order to initiate joint research projects and cooperate with regard to teaching, doctorates and post-doctoral qualifications. The unit also supports the onboarding and training of the Institute's staff in relation to scientific work. By continuously monitoring and evaluating existing processes and structures and devising strategies to improve them, the Strategy Development and Research Coordination unit contributes to the optimisation of the Institute's scientific output and its continued advancement.
The Scientific Advisor Scientific Quality Management and Strategy Development identifies and defines objectives and plans measures to achieve them. The comprehensive visioning process "Vision WI 2030" is one such example. It was launched at the beginning of 2023 with the aim of putting the Institute on a future-proof footing and initiating and implementing the development steps this would require.
The advisor is also responsible for scientific quality management and supporting early stage researchers. The Institute is regularly audited to ensure and demonstrate the scientific quality of its work. Since 2020, this has been carried out as part of the Johannes Rau Research Association's evaluation procedure. Training courses run in cooperation with the ombudsperson and consultations with the International Advisory Board also help to ensure that the desired quality standards in applied research are met.
The Wuppertal Institute offers doctoral funding that enables researchers in the early stages of their careers to combine project work with their own continued professional development in the form of a dissertation.
The Scientific Advisor Strategic Research Field Development is responsible for aligning the focus of the Wuppertal Institute's activities with its mission and optimising the effectiveness of its work. To achieve these objectives, the advisor is heavily involved in coordinating the Institute's general strategy development. This includes the further development of the Institute's guiding vision and mission as well as participation in the "Vision WI 2030" process and its translation into the strategic development plan. The role also encompasses contributing to the Institute's impact strategy and helping to define criteria for measuring the success of scientific work.
On this basis, the advisor coordinates the Institute's innovation strategy and innovation management using suitable Institute-wide formats. This work includes managing innovation and decision-making processes for research topics and projects that span multiple Divisions.
The impacts of climate change are becoming increasingly clear. As a consequence, the Wuppertal Institute's research focuses on both climate change mitigation and climate change adaptation as the foundations for a world that can support future generations.
The advisor's role is to work with researchers on an ongoing basis to identify, explore and strategically develop new, compatible research topics in the field of climate change adaptation. This also entails expanding the Institute's internal competency profile, managing individual research projects and publicising the Institute's research activities and findings. Strategic external networking also comes within the advisor's remit, including playing a coordinating role in the NRW Climate Change Adaptation Expert Forum. Further tasks include establishing cooperative relationships with external partners, driving momentum externally by participating in workshops and conferences, providing expert opinions and helping to design and supervise climate change adaptation modules for external degree programmes.
The Sustainability Initiative of the Universities in North Rhine-Westphalia "Humboldtn" sees its role as that of an opinion leader and mediator to support the coordination of the joint research interests of North Rhine-Westphalia's universities, the Wuppertal Institute, the North Rhine-Westphalian Academy of Sciences, Humanities and the Arts (AWK), and other research and scientific institutions. The primary focus of the network's activities is on more effectively anchoring and pooling sustainability research at the state's universities and improving inter- and transdisciplinary research skills. Under the patronage of Dr. Jörg Mittelsten Scheid, the initiative awards the Humboldtn Prize for Sustainability, grants scholarships for the Sustainability Working Group at the AWK's Young Academy, offers lecture series for Master’s students and runs an annual summer school for doctoral and post-doctoral students from North Rhine-Westphalia. Humboldtn is currently developing a Future Conference and an interministerial dialogue forum in collaboration with the Sustainability Alliance of Universities of Applied Sciences in NRW. The project is funded by the Ministry of Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia. The Research Coordination Advisor manages the Humboldtn administrative office.
The range of research methods employed at an inter- and transdisciplinary institution like the Wuppertal Institute is enormous. The high significance of methods of transformation research to the work of the Wuppertal Institute was further strengthened by the creation of the new advisory position in 2023. The advisor is tasked with organising internal and external knowledge management in this field, scrutinising and further developing research methods, exploring interfaces and potential synergies between them, supporting and advising employees on issues relating to methods and supervising the corresponding training programme. Representing the Wuppertal Institute on numerous committees and in various networks, such as the Society for Transdisciplinary and Participatory Research (GTPF), is also part of the role, as is acting as a catalyst for fresh ideas within and outside of the Institute.
The role of the Industrial Transformation and Society Advisor is to strengthen networking between the Wuppertal Institute's Divisions and Research Units on matters relating to industrial transformation and to step up interaction with stakeholders working in the field. The advisor is also tasked with addressing the increasingly important issue of public acceptance of transformation processes. The industrial sector faces complex challenges driven by a range of concerns, particularly climate change, resource efficiency, security of supply and competitiveness. In some cases, tackling these challenges requires considerable structural change that needs the backing of society at large. The same applies when it comes to the willingness to use public funds to support the industrial sector's transformation pathway and build new infrastructure. The Institute's interdisciplinary, transdisciplinary, integrative and stakeholder-oriented approach is a unique selling point and puts it in a very good position to make a significant and holistic contribution to the transformation. The Industrial Transformation and Society Advisor shares this expertise with external networks, thereby bolstering the Institute's reputation and supporting the acquisition activities of its Divisions. By analysing external discussions and developments, the advisor also contributes to the strategic development of new research fields and actively supports projects relating to industrial transformation.
The Scientific Advisor Digital Transformation develops and oversees the overall strategy for the Wuppertal Institute's digital transformation. The aim of this strategy is to support the Institute's core objectives in the field of sustainability research, identify necessary change processes and facilitate their implementation. To this end, the advisor identifies opportunities to take advantage of new digital processes – including AI-supported processes – to benefit the Institute's scientific work and manages the use of digital tools and platforms with a view to enhancing the efficiency and social impact of its research. Further tasks include establishing links with stakeholders from the scientific community and the private sector in order to find out about relevant developments promptly and take them into account within the Institute's various digital initiatives.
The advisor also supports the acquisition and continuous development of digital skills within the organisation. Existing (and new) digital systems are developed and deployed in close cooperation with the relevant stakeholders in the Administration Division. Training courses, workshops and other learning opportunities aimed at improving digital skills are designed and implemented with the Human Resources team. The advisor also oversees the monitoring and evaluation of digital initiatives.
Below you will find selected projects from the Strategy Development and Research Coordination unit.
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