About UsRosa Lehmann
Junior Professor of “Innovation and Sustainability in Ibero-America”
Affiliation: Heidelberg Center for Ibero-American Studies - HCIAS
Co-operation: Faculty of Chemistry and Earth Sciences, Institute of Geography, Heidelberg Center for the Environment
Tel.: +49 (0)6221 54-19336
E-Mail: rosa.lehmann(a)uni-heidelberg.de
Dr. Rosa Lehmann studied Cultural Anthropology and Political Science at Freiburg University, and in 2018, received her Ph.D. in Political Science. From 2016 until 2021, she was a postdoc researcher in the junior research group “Bioeconomy and Social Inequalities”, funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and based at the University of Jena in Germany. Since 2012, she has been an associate researcher at the Arnold Bergstraesser Institute (ABI) at the University of Freiburg. She is a member of the editorial team of the journal Peripherie. Politik – Ökonomie – Kultur, an interdisciplinary journal for development theory and politics, and since April 2021, an HCIAS Junior Professor of “Innovation and Sustainability in Ibero-America”.

Research
Rosa Lehmann is interested in the social dimension of the transition from a fossil fuel economy to a sustainable society and economy that is based on renewable resources. She situates herself in the interdisciplinary research field of political ecology and her research is guided by the assumption that the appropriation of nature, e.g., for biomass production or wind energy generation, just as the necessary technological innovations do not happen in a vacuum but are inextricably bound to social relations. In her research, she focuses on the social impacts and challenges of the energy transition and the transition to a bio-economy by taking into account existing socio-ecological inequalities including power asymmetries between actors and competing narratives on innovation and sustainability. The regional focus of her work is Ibero-America, particularly Latin America/Mexico, and she considers transnational ties and international dependencies in her work.
Rosa Lehmann wants science to take place not only in the ivory tower and concerns herself with the transfer of academic research and debates as well as the communication of research results to both students as well as a wider public.
Research in Progress
- Climate Politics: Research Project PCG - Interacting Actors in Polycentric Climate Governance (funded by the Heidelberg Center for the Environment): The goal of this project is to understand how transnational forums established in recent years to address climate change affect the discussion, selection, and convergence of climate change policies. To achieve this, we will examine the policy preferences and perceptions of different groups of actors (bureaucrats, civil society actors, and business actors) in Argentina, Chile, and Mexico, determine the impact of cross-level learning on policy convergence, and examine the representation of included and excluded actors. Principal investigators: Jun.-Prof. Dr. Rosa Lehmann (HCIAS), Prof. Dr. Jale Tosun (Institute of Political Science), Prof. Dr. Johannes Glückler (Institute of Geography), Prof. Dr. Óscar Loureda (HCIAS); Project members: Alejandra Irigoyen Ríos (HCIAS) and Emiliano Levario Saad.
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Current activities within the framework of this research project:
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Workshop in Chile: “Políticas policéntricas de mitigación y adaptación al cambio climático: Actores, interrelaciones, e impactos en América del Sur”, October 27 and 28, 2022, Location: Heidelberg Center para América Latina, Santiago de Chile.
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Energy Transition and Bioeconomy: At the core of this research focus is the assumption that technological innovations aimed at addressing climate change and other socio-ecological challenges cannot be considered separately from societal power relations and social inequalities. Therefore, the following questions are at the core of this research focus:
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To what extent do renewable energies or bio-based products and processes reproduce or deal with conflicts and inequalities?
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What practices, experiences, innovations (including social and grassroots innovations), and policies contribute to a just transition? Inequalities and conflicts are understood as being socio-ecological in nature and are examined in their material (socio-economic distribution of costs and benefits), political (participation), and discursive (narratives of actors) dimensions.
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Current activities within the framework of this research project:
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Hybrid Workshop at FRIAS, Freiburg, Germany. June 2-3, 2022: „Transnational dimensions of energy transitions: Politics and inequalities in and beyond Latin America and West Asia-North Africa (WANA)“;
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Supervision dissertation Rafael Hernández Westpfahl: „Energía limpia? The (in)visibilisation of postcolonial dynamics and forced displacement in the context of 'green extractivsm'”;
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Recent lectures and publications: “Conflictos socioambientales en América Latina: Energías renovables y el papel de la tierra”. Presentation given at the symposium “Access to Justice in Unequal Societies”, May 23-25, 2022, JLU Gießen.
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Special Issue: “Bioeconomy Governance in the Global South: State of the Art and the Way Forward”, together with Daniela Kleinschmit, Freiburg University, Alexandru Giurca, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg Center for the Environment (HCE), Fabricio Rodríguez, Arnold Bergstraesser Institute Freiburg, Hariati Sinaga, University of Jena, Institute of Sociology.
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Supervision of Doctoral Dissertation Projects
- Rafael Hernández Westphal: „Energía limpia? The (in)visibilisation of postcolonial dynamics and forced displacement in the context of 'green extractivsm'”. Heidelberg University, HCIAS doctoral research group "Communication and Society in Ibero-America".
Recent Publications
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Recent Presentations and Media Contributions
Teaching
Summer Semester 2023
- Crises and Transformations: Social Science Debates across World Regions
- Environment and Development in Ibero-America
Contact
Jun.-Prof. Dr. Rosa Lehmann
Heidelberg Center for Ibero-American Studies - HCIAS
Brunnengasse 1, 69117 Heidelberg
Tel.: +49 (0)6221 54-19336
Email: rosa.lehmann(a)uni-heidelberg.de
Office Hours
Thursdays 11:00am - 12:30pm
Bergheimer Str. 58a, Room 4311.01.118
(by appointment only)