Doctorates
© Felix Kutzera/TU Dortmund
Supporting scientific careers
The qualification and support of early-career researchers is a key priority of the institute. Many researchers employed at the ILS are pursuing for a doctorate or further competence development as a postdoctoral researcher. We take these objectives into account with our offers for a secure career planning (tenure-track) and our support for young researchers (structured doctoral programme). Thereby, the ILS also contributes to the qualification of highly skilled professionals for North Rhine-Westphalia and beyond.
Alongside to its internal support for early-career researchers, several ILS scientists contribute to academic teaching at various universities and colleges by offering courses, supervising Bachelor’s, Master’s and doctoral theses and supporting habilitation procedures.
This page provides an overview of ongoing projects and completed doctoral dissertations by ILS researchers.
The doctoral projects
Developing rural areas – European trends, accessibility of services of general interests, and justice-based transport planning
Florian Ahlmeyer
Securing the provision of services of general interest (SGI) is a major challenge for many rural areas. For the recent decades a decline in basic infrastructure can be observed. Against the backdrop of this development, the cumulative dissertation project is dedicated to the question of how a positive development of rural areas can succeed, with a focus on mobility. Central aspects are accessibility of SGI as well as sustainable and just transport planning in rural areas.
University: University of Wuppertal, Institute of Geography, Social Geography
Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Andreas Keil
Type of promotion: cumulative
Already published: What Can We Expect for the Development of Rural Areas in Europe? – Trends of the Last Decade and Their Opportunities for Rural Regeneration in Sustainability.
Was brauchen wir in ländlichen Räumen? Erreichbarkeitsmodellierung als strategischer Ansatz der regionalen Standort- und Verkehrsplanung in Raumforschung und Raumordnung | Spatial Research and Planning.
Governmental Perspectives on Multimodality as Part of a Socio-Ecological Mobility Transformation
Julia Hansel
This dissertation project deals with governance and (neoliberal) governmentality perspectives in the socio-ecological mobility transformation, especially focussing on multimodality and mobility hubs. It expands academic literature on governance arrangements and underlying power relations more critically based on the concepts of governmentality and dispositf.
University: University of Münster
Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Antonia Graf
Type of promotion: cumulative
Already published: Governing mobility hubs in the sustainable urban mobility transition: Dynamics of stability and change in Transport Policy.
Social Media Platforms and Digital Information and Communication Technologies: Implications for Contemporary Urban Neighbourhood Dynamics
Simon Liebig
Digitalization fundamentally changes neighborhood communication. While some studies emphasize negative effects on personal interactions and existing inequalities, others show that digital platforms can strengthen local networks. Using quantitative and qualitative methods, motivations and usage patterns are analyzed to examine how social media and digital communication technologies influence coexistence in urban neighborhoods.
University: TU Berlin, Faculty VI – Planning | Building | Environment
Supervisor: Jun.-Prof. Dr. Heike Hanhörster
Type of promotion: cumulative
Already published: Catalysts of connection. The role of digital information and communication technology in fostering neighbourhood social cohesion: A systematic review of empirical findings in Urban Studies.
The Medium is the Messenger A Quantitative Study on the Relation between Social Media Services and Neighbourhood Social Interactions in Built Environment.
Zwischen Networked Publics und Orten der Begegnung. Ein qualitativ-explorativer Beitrag zur Konzeptualisierung von Online-Nachbarschaftsgruppen in Berichte. Geographie und Landeskunde.
Planning and implementing sustainable mobility concepts: A transferrable spatial-transformative governance process? A qualitative case study based on car-reduced neighborhoods in Darmstadt, Cologne and Bielefeld (working title)
Annika Schröder
The dissertation project investigates the transition from car-oriented to car-reduced planning using the example of mobility concepts for new urban neighborhoods. Focusing on the influence of the institutional actors’ beliefs, transition governance approaches are combined with a socio-spatial perspective. Empirically, the qualitative comparative case study is based on expert interviews as well as participant observation in the sense of an organizational ethnography.
University: Goethe-University Frankfurt a. M.
Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Martin Lanzendorf
Supervisor at the ILS: Dr. Thomas Klinger
Type of promotion: cumulative
Already published: From car-oriented to car-reduced planning practices: The complex patterns of actors’ mobility-related beliefs in developing a new neighborhood in Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions.
Completed doctorates
Alltagsmobilität älterer Menschen im Kontext räumlicher und klimatischer Umwelt
Dr.-Ing. Kerstin Conrad
Year of doctorate: 2023
University: TU Dortmund
Supervisors: Prof. Dr.-Ing. Stefan Siedentop, Prof. Dr. Frank Oswald
Publication: http://dx.doi.org/10.17877/DE290R-23933
Die Steuerung der Siedlungsentwicklung –Entwicklung und Anwendung von Mess- und Evaluationsmethoden zur Analyse von Steuerungsansätzen der räumlichen Planung
Dr.-Ing. Sebastian Eichhorn
Year of doctorate: 2025
University: TU Dortmund
Supervisor: Prof. Dr.-Ing. Stefan Siedentop
Publication: http://doi.org/10.17877/DE290R-25429
Dr.-Ing. Lea Fischer
Year of doctorate: 2025
University: RWTH Aachen University
Supervisor: Prof. Dr.-Ing. Agnes Förster (RWTH Aachen University), Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jan Polívka (TU Berlin)
Publication: https://doi.org/10.18154/RWTH-2025-07872
Dr. Lisa Garde
Year of doctorate: 2025
University: Technical University of Dortmund
Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Stefan Siedentop, Prof. Dr. Caroline Kramer
Publication: http://dx.doi.org/10.17877/DE290R-25602
Dr.-Ing. Christian Gerten
Year of doctorate: 2023
University: TU Dortmund University
Supervisor: Prof. Dr.-Ing. Stefan Siedentop (TU Dortmund), Prof. Dr. Martin Berchtold (RPTU Kaiserslautern)
Publication: http://dx.doi.org/10.17877/DE290R-23293
Arrival Neighbourhoods as Spaces of Integration? The Relevance of Arrival Infrastructures and Brokering Practices for Newcomers’ Access to Resources
Dr. Nils Hans
Year of doctorate: 2024
University: Technische Universität Dortmund
Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Stefan Siedentop; Prof. Dr. Antonie Schmiz
Publication: http://dx.doi.org/10.17877/DE290R-24407
Mobilitätsverhalten von Menschen mit Migrationshintergrund in Deutschland Annäherungen an eine unbekannte Größe am Beispiel von Offenbach am Main
Dr. Janina Welsch
Year of doctorate: 2019
University: Leuphana University Lüneburg
Supervisor: apl. Prof. Dr. Peter Pez, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Ulrike Reutter (Second Reviewer), Prof. Dr.-Ing. Stefan Siedentop (Third Reviewer)
Publication: https://doi.org/10.48548/pubdata-561
Contact
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Thomas Weith
Phone: +49 (0) 231 9051-252
E-Mail: thomas.weith@ils-research.de
