The actor-centered research activities are concentrated in the following fields:

• Innovation: Technological upgrading along global value chains in varying regional innovation systems from world cities to rural areas.
• Transformation: Regional effects of transformation processes in those countries which are characterized by both a transition from a planned to a market economy and by drastic institutional changes.
• Vulnerability: Impacts of natural risks on the relationship between people and their environment in order to get a better understanding of the dynamics of urban poverty as well as to develop sustainable strategies to overcome social and regional disparities.

The regional focus is on Europe, Southeast and East Asia and Africa, with current research projects in Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, China, Brazil, South Africa, Namibia, Zambia, Botswana and Argentina.

Leonie Hesselmann attended the Regional Studies Association Annual Conference in Porto in May 2025 and presented the preliminary findings of her doctoral research. In her presentation, she explained how rural households in Africa are affected by multiple crises and how they make decisions and shape their future under these difficult conditions. The conference provided an inspiring platform for interdisciplinary exchange on regional development, resilience and global challenges, as well as for expanding and deepening scientific networks.

Best Paper Award for young researchers goes to Dr Linus Kalvelage
Dr. Linus Kalvelage and his co-author Benedikt Walker have been awarded the Early Career Researcher Paper Prize by the renowned Journal of Economic Geography. The award-winning publication, entitled ‘Strategic coupling beyond borders: Germany's extraterritorial agency in Namibia's green hydrogen industry’, analyses Germany's role in the development of Namibia's hydrogen economy against the backdrop of geopolitical and climate-economic challenges. The article shows how states – even in liberal and coordinated market economies – pursue targeted extraterritorial strategies to link global production networks with national decarbonisation goals. The article can be found here, and the announcement of the award here.

Gemeinsam mit dem College of Economics, Law and Government der University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City (CELG-UEH) organisierte unsere Arbeitsgruppe im Rahmen des TVSEP-Projekts (DFG-Langzeitprojekt) am 6. und 7. März eine internationale Konferenz zum Thema „Poverty dynamics and sustainable development in Thailand and Vietnam“ in Ho-Chi-Minh-Stadt. Prof. Dr. Javier Revilla Diez und Ole Lück waren vor Ort und diskutierten auf der Konferenz neueste Forschungsergebnisse im Kontext der regionalen Entwicklung in Thailand und Vietnam.

Vom 24. bis 28. Februar 2025 nahm Emma Galbraith an der Summer School und der anschließenden Konferenz zur Financial Geography teil, organisiert vom Financial Geography Network unter der Leitung von Prof. Dariusz Wójcik an der National University of Singapore. In der Summer School für Early Career Researchers diskutierte sie gemeinsam mit internationalen Forschenden intensiv über Theorieentwicklung, Methoden und die Zukunft der Finanzgeographie in Asien und dem Globalen Süden. Auf der Konferenz präsentierte sie erste Ergebnisse ihrer Promotionsforschung zur Rolle Singapurs als Finanz- und Energiehub im Zeitalter von Net-Zero.

In February 2025, on the home straight of the second phase of the SFB Future Rural Africa, Mfundo Mlilo and Leonie Hesselmann, together with Ndapewa Fenny Nakanyete and Javier Revilla Diez, shared research results with local stakeholders in a feedback workshop. The workshop brought together key stakeholders, researchers, policymakers and industry experts to discuss the challenges and opportunities of tourism development in the region. It took place in cooperation with the Wildlife Management and Ecotourism Department of the University of Namibia. Based on the presentation of the research results, concrete steps to strengthen the tourism profile of the Zambezi region were discussed. 

In February 2025, Fenny Nakanyete visited the Khewe San community in Namibia's Bwabwata National Park again as part of our project  Future in Chains of the CRC Future Rural Africa together with Javier Revilla Diez, Mfundo Mlilo and Leonie Hesselmann.  Fenny Nakanyete had conducted a large part of the interviews for her doctoral thesis there, and now she was there to share her research results. The Khewe San, who depend on the harvest and trade of the Devil's Claw, learned how much they are exploited in these transactions and thus received information for a better negotiating position. You can read the report of Fennys Results-Workshop here.

It was a particular pleasure and honour for us to welcome the renowned scientist and conceptual father of global production networks, Prof. Henry Wai-chung Yeung, to Cologne on 9th December 2024. In the context of a workshop moderated by Prof. Peter Dannenberg on the topic ‘Sustainable Global Production in Times of Multiple Crises?’, Dr. Linus Kalvelage and Dr. PD Alexander Follmann presented current research projects, which were then discussed by Prof. Henry Yeung. Prof. Henry Yeung then presented his book ‘Theory and Explanation in Geography’, which was then critically discussed by the doctoral students Emma Galbraith (from our working group) and Johanna Fellbrich (working group Urban and Regional Development), moderated by Prof. Javier Revilla Diez. In the evening, Prof. Yeung gave a lecture on the dynamic development of the semiconductor industry in geopolitically troubled times as part of the Gesellschaft für Erdkunde's lecture series. It was a stimulating day with many fruitful and inspiring discussions! We thank Henry Yeung for his visit!

From 12th to 13th November 2024, the doctoral students of the working group took part in a workshop on ‘Integrating Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches in Sustainability Research: Mutual Insights and Learning’, organised by Prof. Dr. Javier Revilla Diez and Prof. Dr. Christina Bogner at the University of Cologne. The workshop aimed to combine qualitative and quantitative methods in order to better understand the complexity of sustainability research and develop innovative, interdisciplinary approaches.

Ndapewa Fenny Nakanyete, affiliated with Project C01 Future in Chains through a bi-nationally supervised doctoral program (Cotutelle) between the University of Cologne and the University of Namibia, was awarded her bi-national PhD degree during the University of Namibia's graduation ceremony on 9 October 2024. Her dissertation, titled "Indigenous Knowledge for Sustainable Livelihoods: Evaluating Non-Timber Forest Product Value Chains for San Communities in Northern Namibia," was jointly supervised by Prof. Revilla Diez from the University of Cologne and Prof. Kenneth Matengu from the University of Namibia. Fenny Nakanyete sees the Cotutelle doctoral student model as an important step towards decolonisation, the promotion of a fair distribution of intellectual property and the promotion of research on post-colonial structures.

We are pleased to announce that the German Research Foundation (DFG) has awarded Linus Kalvelage a research project entitled FGHyTransition: Fossil-Green Hydrogen Path Creation for Transformative Development in Namibia and Vietnam. This project aims to explore the multi-scalar interrelationships between the emerging green hydrogen industry and the fossil fuel industry, analysing actors, power dynamics and dependencies in order to assess the opportunity space for green industrialisation in the Global South.

The publication “Nation-state influence on tourism path creaton in Southern Africa”, written by Mfundo Mlilo with Prof. Revilla Diez and Prof. Michael Bollig, was published in Regional Studies in September 2024. It examines the development of tourism pathways in the post-colonial states of Southern Africa and specifically in the border regions of Chobe, Victoria Falls and Zambezi. Building on the concept of the Trinity of Change Agency, it shows the importance of the nation state in the development of institutional entrepreneurship and the impact of triggering events. The interplay between regional actors and a responsive nation state plays a crucial role in shaping tourism pathways.

In August 2024, Prof. Revilla Diez and our research assistants Emma Galbraith, Ole Lück and Dr. Linus Kalvelage met representatives of our long-standing cooperation partner Ciem (Vietnam Institute of Central Economic Management) in Hanoi: President Dr. Tran Thi Hong Minh and staff members Nguyễn Anh Dương and Đỗ Thị Lê Mai . We presented our three current research projects in Vietnam: Green Finance (Emma Galbraith), Energy Transition (Dr. Linus Kalvelage) and the long-term socio-economic panel project in Thailand and Vietnam (TVSEP) (Ole Lück).

Vom 21. bis 26. Juli 2024 nahm Dr. Linus Kalvelage am Summer Institute in Economic Geography teil, das dieses Jahr gemeinsam von Jamie Peck, Henry Yeung und Dariusz Woijzeck an der National University of Singapore organisiert wurde. Neben spannenden Diskussionen zur Zukunft der Wirtschaftsgeographie standen auch Tagesexkursionen auf dem Programm - unter anderem zum Jurong Island Industrial Park, einem Zentrum der globalen Öl- und Gasindustrie.

During his research stay in Vietnam in July 2024, Prof. Javier Revilla Diez took part in the Annual international conference on Economy, Law, and Government 2024 (ELG2024), held by the University of Economics in Ho Chi Minh City, with the focus: “Approaches to the twin transition – Digitalization and climate change in developing countries. Javier Revilla Diez organised a session about the long-term socio-economic panel-project in Thailand and Vietnam (TVSEP) and presented a paper that he published together with Franziska Sohns: Explaining micro-enterprise survival in rural Vietnam: a multilevel Analysis. More details you can see on this video.

We are pleased to welcome Leonie Hesselmann and Ole Lück to our working group!  Leonie Hesselmann is researching the project "Future in Chains - Socio-Economic Impacts of Growth Corridors", funded by the German Reserach Foundation (DFG) with a special focus on the socio-economic impacts of global and regional value chains. Her research interests include the greater involvement of the local population in regional development processes. Ole Lücks project is embedded in the long-term project Thailand Vietnam Socio Economic Panel (TVSEP), also funded by the German Reserach Foundation (DFG),  researching  in particular on the influence of entrepreneurship in rural Vietnam and Thailand on structural change and regional diversification. His research interests include regional and global disparities and the drivers of regional development in the Global South.

From June 24th - 27th, 2024, Emma Galbraith  and Mfundo Mlilo attended the 10th Nordic Geographers Conference, themed "Transitioning Geographies" in Copenhagen which attracted over 450 participants from across Europe. They took part in lively discussions, presented and promoted the institute's work. The sunny weather and networking with esteemed scholars added to their positive experiences. We are looking forward to applying the insights they gained

Linus Kalvelage took part in the conference of the Energy Geography Working Group in Marburg from June 6th to 8th, 2024, and gave a presentation on "Interpath Relations in the Periphery: Green Hydrogen and the Oil Industry in Namibia". His presentation highlighted the interactions between green hydrogen projects and the traditional oil industry in Namibia and opened up exciting prospects for future energy development in the region.

Han Luong has been conducting a survey of students since March 2024 in three major cities in Vietnam: Thai Nguyen, Hanoi, and Ho Chi Minh City. The pre-designed questionnaire was tested via Zoom, then a first survey was conducted by distributing over a hundred questionnaires to students on different campuses in the specified cities. A final survey is currently underway, which aims to collect a significant number of questionnaires from students. This is expected to be completed by mid-May 2024.

Infrastructure drives economic and transportation development and facilitates communication and trade across distances. The recent importance of globalization, exemplified by projects such as the Chinese Road and Belt Initiative and digital infrastructures, is linked to future development. However, challenges such as migration and environmental change offer new perspectives. The interdisciplinary workshop on May 16 and 17 will focus on issues related to infrastructure.

In March 2024, Mfundo Mlilo has been to four Countries—Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, and Namibia—collecting immigration data to track tourist movements in the KAZA region as part of our research on tourism knowledge transfers. This builds on previous research on tourism, among others at the Namibia Tourism Expo, as shown in this picture.

On April 23, 2024 at 6 pm, a lecture evening will take place at International House, Kringsweg 6: "Insights into Myanmar's Conflict-Induced Displacement and Livelihoods Situations of Post-Coup Displaced Communities in Mae Sot, Thailand". Su Myat Thwe and Simon Becker will present the results of their empirical research in Mae Sot on the Thai-Myanmar border, Prof. Dr. Javier Revilla Diez will moderate the discussion. The event will be held in English. More information can be found here; and you can register here.

From March 1 to March 3, Prof. Javier Revilla Diez and Emma Galbraith took part in a workshop in Zhuhai, China. The aim of the workshop was to bring together economic geographers from the two research areas Global Production Networks (GPN) and Global Financial Networks (GFN) and to exchange views on their current research projects. Following introductory remarks by Javier Revilla Diez, Emma Galbraith presented her research ideas on analyzing the role of financial service providers from Singapore and their regional economic impact in Southeast Asia.

Namibia is currently receiving much media attention as a destination for large-scale green hydrogen investments, raising hopes for green industrialization. At the same time, the discovery of large offshore oil fields has put Namibia on the map of the global oil and gas industry, with the coastal town of Lüderitz at the center of both industries. How can these two industries coexist? And what does this dual energy boom mean for Namibia's regional development pathways and institutions? Linus Kalvelage recently returned from a research trip to find out.

As we look back on the past year, we are filled with gratitude for the opportunity to work on so many different projects and topics with such a talented and dedicated team. And as is tradition in our working group, we got together for a small Christmas party with delicious food from different countries, wine from Spain, beer from Germany and our new tradition: Christmas Bingo!

The CO1 crew rocked the CRC Retreat 2023 in Steinfeld from November 8-10! We dove deep into the second phase of the CRC 228 project (which will be completed in 2025) and reviewed our progress. Of particular note is the interdisciplinary research that is fostering collaboration between the projects. In addition, CO1 is planning a special issue on infrastructures and is working on a series of papers to improve our teamwork.  #CRC228Magic #TeamCO1 #

On November 9th and 10th, 2023, Emma Galbraith took part in the annual conference of the Industrial Geography Working Group in Naurod. Emma presented the DFG project "Beyond offshoring: tradable services and regional value chains in the Global South" and presented her own initial research ideas, which she would like to pursue further as part of her doctorate. Intensive discussions and valuable feedback rounded off the conference.

From 25 to 30 September, the German Congress of Geography took place in Frankfurt. Our working group not only presented its own research, but also organised four sessions: Javier Revilla Diez led sessions on food insecurity and the role of socio-economic scenarios in climate adaptation.;Linus Kalvelage focused on geographical perspectives on the biodiversity crisis and questioned the current state of environmental economic geography. The discussions at the congress underlined the relevance of economic geography for addressing global challenges and also stimulated new research perspectives.

We are pleased to welcome Emma Galbraith as a new member of our research group! Emma Galbraith will start her PhD studies under the supervision of Prof. Javier Revilla Diez and support the working group as a research assistant. As part of the DFG-funded project "Beyond offshoring: tradable services and regional value chains in the Global South", she is researching regional value chains of tradable services and their regional economic effects in Southeast Asia.

Together with colleagues Grote, Kis-Katos and Thanh Nguyen, Javier Revilla Diez is organising the International TVSEP Data User Workshop which will take place online on 12 and 13 September 2023 with participants from Southeast Asia and Germany. The Thailand Vietnam Socio Economic Panel (TVSEP) is a research project on "Poverty and Sustainable Development: A Long-Term Panel Project in Thailand and Vietnam, 2015 - 2024", funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG). Here you can find more information on how to participate free of charge as well as the programme for the online workshop.

 From 14th to 17th June 2023, Ledys Franco, Carolin Hulke, Linus Kalvelage and Mfundo Mlilo attended the annual conference of the Regional Studies Association "Transforming Regions: Policy and Planning for People and Places" in Ljubljana, Slovenia. The team presented ongoing research from our working group on regional value chains, green path development, change agency and growth corridors. Intense discussions and a beautiful city made this a truly memorable stay.

Prof. Revilla Diez is grateful for having received the Albertus Magnus Teaching Award:

“Today I have to share this: I am very honored and proud to have received the Albertus-Magnus-Teaching award from our faculty. This is very motivating for me to keep trying to make teaching interesting and challenging. This award is very special to me as it is based on students’ votes. Many thanks!”

Javier Revilla Diez, Carolin Hulke, Linus Kalvelage, and Fenny Nakanyete participated in the European Conference on African Studies (ECAS) at the University of Cologne from 30 May to 3 June. In different panels on topics such as the potential contribution of regional value chains to food security and tourism and environmental protection in times of the Covid 19 pandemic, they presented their current research results. In a panel discussion, Fenny Nakanyete also discussed the question of the future of African Studies in Europe with other international guests.

The hybrid CBNRM Science Workshop on Regional and Local Development Strategies in Namibian Conservancies took place on 27th April 2023. Thereby, Carolin Hulke, Linus Kalvelage and Javier Revilla Diez shared insights into their research results on tourism and agriculture development in conservancies in the Zambezi Region (CRC228 "Future Rural Africa" - C01 "Future in Chains"). In a discussion with different stakeholders from the agriculture and conservation/tourism sectors, the results and future development paths for Namibian conservancies were discussed.

In February/March 2023, Linus Kalvelage travelled along the coast of South Africa and Namibia to investigate recent investments in green hydrogen. He interviewed government officials and entrepreneurs in Cape Town, Lüderitz, Walvis Bay and Windhoek, among other places, about the opportunities to use green hydrogen as a driver for investment, as well as the challenges of the energy transition, such as the high costs of the required technologies, the current lack of infrastructure and the shortage of skilled labour.

During his field research in Subsaha Africa, Mfundo Mlilo meets with entrepreneurs and political leaders to trace the evolution of the tourism value chains. Using the trinity of change concept, we compare tourism developments in Namibia, Botswana, and Zimbabwe. We have collected essential lessons about various stakeholders' roles in tourism development. Watch out for our upcoming paper discussing the relevance of this concept in tourism developments in the Global South. 

„Development beyond global integration?“ - Dissemination of finding

To finalise the first phase of the SFB "Future Rural Africa", Carolin Hulke together with Javier Revilla Diez presented the results of her PhD thesis in feedback workshops with local stakeholders. In cooperation with the Zambezi Horticulture Association (ZAHOPA), they organized discussions in the rural areas of the Zambezi region, Namibia. These brought together smallholder horticulture farmers with conservancies to discuss the links between conservation and agriculture. The results were shared with relevant stakeholders in Windhoek and the Zambezi region to increase the impact of the research project and contribute to the sustainable design of development pathways. 

Am 19. Januar 2023 hielt Prof. Javier Revilla Diez an der London School of Economics einen Vortrag über die Entwicklungskorridore, die in den letzten Jahrzehnten in Afrika eingerichtet wurden. Dies sollte zu mehr Wissen und Wohlstand führen, doch die Umsetzung ist nicht immer leicht, und nicht alle profitieren von steigenden Umsätzen. Herr Revilla Diez erläutert die Gründe der ungleichen Verteilung von Gewinnen am Beispiel von Namibias Tourismusindustrie. Hier bräuchte es mehr Investitionen, mehr nationales Engagement und mehr Führung auf lokaler Ebene.