PD Dr. rer. nat. Alexander Follmann

Research fellow

Research Interests

Content: Urban and economic geography, socio-ecological transformation, sustainability, human-environment relations, participation, peri-urban change, smart cities, agriculture

Regional: Germany, Austria, India, Kenya

Methodology: Qualitative and quantitative methods, remote sensing, discourse analysis

Profil

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4727-4346
GoogleScholar: https://scholar.google.ch/citations?user=z3eyqi4AAAAJ&hl=de
ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Alexander-Follmann-2

Research Projects

Participation in research projects (ongoing)

The Urbanizing edge: Tackling Peri-Urban Growth, Flooding and Heat with Nature-based Solutions in Kolkata, India
Supervisor of the PhD-project of Pritam Ghosh in cooperation with Prof. Dr. Karin Pfeffer, ITC Twente)
Funded by a DAAD doctoral fellowship: Graduate School Scholarship Program – Program to Support International Doctoral Students in Structured Doctoral Programs (2025–2029)

Peri-urban transformations in Chennai, India
PI in cooperation with Loraine Kennedy (CNRS Paris), Karin Pfeffer (ITC Twente) and Christoph Woiwode (IGCS, IIT Madras, Chennai)
own funds, DAAD/BMBF-Scholarship Indo-German Centre for Sustainability (since 2023)

CRC 228 - Future Rural Africa: Future-making and social-ecological transformation
Associate member
DFG (since 2019)
More information: https://www.crc228.de/

Participation in research projects (completed)

Beyond the Domesticated and Wild Divide: Plant Biology and the Politics of Nutrition (BiPoN)
PI together with Kopriva et al. as part of the GSSC and CEPLAS
Excellent Research Support Program: UoC Forum, University of Cologne (2021-2023)
More information: https://bipon.uni-koeln.de/

Inventory analysis of the situation of the weekly markets in Cologne
PI together with P. Dannenberg
City of Cologne (2021-2023)

DFG-scientific network: Spaces of Global Production: The Territorial Dimensions of Global Production Networks and World City Networks
Co-I together with Kleibert et al.
DFG (2018-2021)

DAAD Thematic Network: Remapping the Global South: Teaching, Researching, Exchanging
Co-I together with Potthast et al.
DAAD (2015-2020)
More information: https://remapping-the-global-south.uni-koeln.de/

Professional Training

January 2023
Habilitation Geography, Universität zu Köln. Topic: Urban-Economic Geographies of Peri-urban Transformations in the Global South

November 2022 – March 2023
Interim professorship for Development Geography, Institute of Geography, University of Bonn

September 2021 – March 2022 
Interim professorship for Human Geography: Urban and Regional Development, Institute of Geography, University of Cologne

October 2009– June 2015
Doctoral studies at the Institute of Geography, University of Cologne, Prof. Dr. Boris Braun
“Governing Riverscapes. Urban Environmental Change along the River Yamuna in Delhi, India“
(Thesis available at Franz Steiner Verlag)

October 2009 - April 2010
Visiting PhD.-candidate at the School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi, India
(PhD-fellowship, German Academic Exchange Service, DAAD)

October 2003 -  March 2009
Academic Studies: Geography (diploma), University of Cologne
with minor subjects: Urban Planning (Städtebau, University of Bonn), Transport Economics (Verkehrswissenschaften), Economics (VWL)

Diploma Thesis: „Die Revitalisierung des Kölner Rheinauhafens im planerischen und öffentlichen Diskurs“

September 2006 - April 2007
Simon Fraser University (SFU), Vancouver, Canada (German Academic Exchange Service, DAAD)

Professional experience (selection)

since May 2016
Principal Investigator (PI), Global South Studies Center, University of Cologne

since March 2014
Lecturer and research fellow, Institute of Geography, University of Cologne

October 2024 – February 2025
Guest Professor, Research Unit of Urban and Regional Research, Institute of Spatial Planning, TU Wien
 

Awards/scholarships

• Science Award for Human Geography (2023, Wissenschaftspreis für Humangeographie) of the Prof. Dr. Frithjof Voss Foundation, Foundation for Geography, Berlin
• 2nd award Geoverbund ABC/J Young Academics Awards 2017 (ABC/J-Forschungspreis 2017) for PhD-thesis ‘Governing Riverscapes - Urban Environmental Change along the Yamuna in Delhi, India’
• PhD-fellowship, German National Academic Foundation (Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes), April 2011 - September 2013
• PhD-starting grant „New Passage to India“ des Deutschen Akademischen Ausland Dienstes (DAAD) (October 2009 – March 2010)
• 1st award Köln-Preis 2009, Universität zu Köln for the Diploma Thesis: „Die Revitalisierung des Kölner Rheinauhafens im planerischen und öffentlichen Diskurs“
• 2nd award Dr.-Prill-Preis 2009, Förderpreis Geographie der Gesellschaft für Erdkunde zu Köln e.V. for the Diploma Thesis: „Die Revitalisierung des Kölner Rheinauhafens im planerischen und öffentlichen Diskurs“

Organizations and Memberships

• Arbeitskreis Südasien in der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Geographie (speaker)
• Verband der Geographen an Deutschen Hochschulen (VGDH)
• Associated member CRC228 Future Rural Africa
• Editorial Board Member Geography Compass
   

Publications

Please check my Google Scholar Profile: 
https://scholar.google.de/citations?hl=de&user=z3eyqi4AAAAJ 
 

Teaching