About Us Rosa 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(at)uni-heidelberg.de
Dr. Rosa Lehmann studied Cultural Anthropology and Political Science at Freiburg University, where she received her Ph.D. in Political Science in 2018. Since April 2021, she is HCIAS Junior Professor of “Innovation and Sustainability in Ibero-America” at the Heidelberg Center for Ibero-American Studies (HCIAS) in conjunction with the Faculty of Chemistry and Earth Sciences and the Heidelberg Center for the Environment (HCE). Prior to her position at the HCIAS, Rosa Lehmann was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the junior research group “Bioeconomy and Social Inequalities” at the University of Jena from 2016 to 2021, funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).
Research
Rosa Lehmann’s research builds on theories and methodologies in the research field of political ecology and works on conflicts, inequalities, sociospatial changes and multiscalar politics in relation to climate change mitigation, decarbonization and energy transitions, and the use of resources (for mining and bioeconomy, amongst others). She is also interested in debates on socio-ecological transformation, energy justice, and just transition. The regional focus of her work is on Chile, Mexico, and Germany.
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 to the interested public.
Research in Progress
- Space and Belonging in Socio-Ecological Conflicts over Land and Natural Resources in Mexico: Subproject B05 of the Collaborative Research Center 1671 „Home(s): Phenomena, Practices, Representations“, which will analyse how the strategic formulation of identity and belonging contributes to political struggles over land and natural resources in the context of climate and energy policies.
- The Public Negotiation of Justice in Transitions to Sustainability (JuTSy): The project is particularly interested in the public negotiation of justice in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), a region affected by climate change and pursuing decarbonization policies. The project builds on an interdisciplinary analytical framework, that combines knowledge from human geography, communication science, and political science to further our understanding of how societies negotiate just transitions and how politics both controls and responds to this public negotiation. While a geographical perspective pays attention to how perspectives on justice might differ according to spatial scales, communication research offers insight to understand how transition processes are communicated and framed. Political Science, in turn, helps us to understand what citizens perceive as just and what tenets (procedural, distributive, justice as recognition) are given priority to. The project started in March 2024 and is seed-funded for two years by the Heidelberg Center for the Environment (HCE) within the framework of the Excellence Strategy put forth by the German federal and state governments.
- New Energy Spaces? Discourse, governance, and space in the energy transition in Latin America: The transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources will lead to dramatic social and spatial changes. It implies both the transformation of existing energy spaces and the production of new ones. But which discourses and governance processes will construct these new spaces? How does the design of infrastructure and political programs influence, for example, decisions about the location of green hydrogen production projects? Which actors are involved in these decisions and how? The aim of the project is to analyze the connection between discourses and governance processes in different spatial contexts, and to investigate transregional interdependencies by analyzing selected major projects of the energy transition. The project is located at the interface of political ecology and human geography (economic/social geography), and aims to contribute to the debate within human geography on the spatial dimension of the energy transition, as well as to the interdisciplinary understanding of the processes involved. The regional focus is on Latin America. The project is funded for three years (2024-2026) by Heidelberg University's „Expanding Internationality“ project within the framework of the Excellence Strategy put forth by the German federal and state governments.
Completed Research Projects
- Climate Politics: Research Project PCG - Interacting Actors in Polycentric Climate Governance (funded by the Heidelberg Center for the Environment): This project aimed 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 examined the policy preferences and perceptions of different groups of actors (bureaucrats, civil society actors, and business actors) in Argentina, Chile, and Mexico, determined the impact of cross-level learning on policy convergence, and examined the representation of included and excluded actors. Rosa Lehmann's focus, together with Alejandra Irigoyen, in the project was on municipal administrations in Chile, their involvement in transnational forums that aim to support municipalities in climate policy, and the possibilities and scope for climate policy at local level. Project leads: Jun.-Prof. Dr. Rosa Lehmann (HCIAS), Prof. Dr. Jale Tosun (Institute for Political Science), Prof. Dr. Johannes Glückler (Institute of Geography), Prof. Dr. Óscar Loureda (HCIAS); Project members: Alejandra Irigoyen Ríos (HCIAS) and Emiliano Levario Saad (Institute for Political Science).
Supervision of Doctoral Dissertation Projects
- Iska Brunzema: „Energy Poverty in the German Policy Mix - Dimensions, impacts and policy design“. Heidelberg University (Faculty for Chemistry and Earth Science), Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research (ISI).
- Rafael Hernández Westpfahl: "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” (Faculty for Chemistry and Earth Science).
- Alejandra Irigoyen Ríos: Doctoral research project: "Municipalities in Climate Governance", Heidelberg University (Faculty for Chemistry and Earth Science).
- Further supervision as host: Júlia Mascarello, University of Santa Catarina, Brazil, former HCE junior fellow and HCIAS visiting doctoral fellow (September 2022 until June 2023).
Recent Publications
Table
Recent Presentations and Media Contributions
Transición Energética en América Latina - Dinámicas Espaciales, Relaciones del Poder, Gobernanza y Desigualdades
Co-organized with Dr. Johanna Höhl. The event took place on March 14-15, 2025 in Santiago de Chile at the Heidelberg Center Latin America (HCLA).
Part of the project „New Energy Spaces“ which is funded by Heidelberg University's „Expanding Internationality“ project within the framework of the Excellence Strategy put forth by the German federal and state governments.
Energy infrastructures as drivers of selective rescaling and reconfiguring space
Together with Dr. Alke Jenss, ABI Freiburg on Panel 94: Unravelling the Political Ecology of Technologies and Infrastructures of the 29. Wissenschaftlicher Kongress der Deutschen Vereinigung für Politikwissenschaft. On September 27, 2024 in Göttingen.
Socioecological Conflicts around (Solar and) Wind Energy Infrastructures
At the Workshop: From Climate Conflicts to Environmental Peacebuilding: Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation Conflicts" organized by the DFG Network „From Climate Conflicts to Environmental Peacebuilding?“. The workshop took place in Braunschweig on July 1st and 2nd, 2024.
Teaching and supervision
Summer Semester 2025
- Justice, Fairness and (In-)equality
- The meaning of home (Heimat) in times of climate change and urban transformations
- Proseminar Humangeographie: Einführung in die Energiegeographie
HCIAS Course Catalog Summer Semester 2025
Topics for final theses (BA, MA)
- Conflicts around renewable energies and so-called transition minerals in German- and Spanish-speaking regions (from the Odenwald to the Upper Rhine Graben to southern Mexico and central Chile)
- Spatial analysis of climate, bioeconomy, and energy policies
- Debates and policies related to energy justice and just transition
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(at)uni-heidelberg.de
Visiting address:
Bergheimer Str. 58a, 69115 Heidelberg
Room 118 (4311.01.118)
Office Hours
Summer Term 2025: Wednesdays 08.00 - 9.00 AM
(Please register in advance by email).