Diversity in Socio-Ecological Transformations: Migration, Demographic Change, Environmental Conservation

We understand the socio-ecological transformation as a driving force behind key questions about the future—shaping how we live together in diversity and how we interact with the environment.

JTC Team A1 Strukturwandel &<br />
Partizipation: Gruppenbild – Dr. Jan Winkler, Hermine Bär, Cheyenne Wolf, Pia Kahlfuß, nicht abgebildet: Felix Schiedlowski

How to deal with a shortage of skilled labour, social isolation, environmental degradation? We regard the socio-ecological transformation as driver of key future questions regarding the living-together in diversity and in accordance with the environment. In close collaboration with civil society actors and practitioners, we develop answers for an inclusive transition society.

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Saxony-Anhalt is facing major demographic challenges: Declining birth rates jeopardize public services in rural areas. The increasing isolation and fragmentation intensify social tensions. A shortage of skilled workers is coupled with structural barriers in the recruitment and integration of newcomers. At the same time, civil society initiatives develop creative ways to reactivate unoccupied buildings and to create places of encounter that foster intergenerational learning. Some municipalities have begun to record a positive net migration rate, which offers potential for reversing the processes of outmigration and shrinkage. Together with and for people on the ground, we develop opportunities to positively address the current challenges posed by demographic change and migration. To this end, we develop innovative formats at the interface of research and practice. Our central concern is to improve participation and ensure equal opportunities for all people in Saxony-Anhalt – regardless of age, place of residence, or origin.

Team
Dr. Larissa Fleischmann, Team Leader
Julia Ostertag
Marina Rottmann
Lukas Petersohn

More-than-human geographies of transformation: Hydropolitical spaces of contamination in and around Bitterfeld-Wolfen (Eastern Germany)

How are water, pollutants, and industrial legacies in the Bitterfeld-Wolfen region politically, ecologically, and socially negotiated, and how do these negotiations shape the transformation of hydropolitical spaces?
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Between Marginalization and Emancipation: Negotiations of Belonging and “Being Eastern German” in the Transformations of Southern Saxony-Anhalt

How are “being Eastern German” and belonging locally interpreted, experienced, and renegotiated in southern Saxony-Anhalt under conditions of structural change?
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Animals, Power, and Space: More-than-Human Political Geographies of Animal Health

How are borders produced, legitimized, shifted, or contested in the context of the management of animal health? This research project examines more-than-human governance practices as they emerge through the management of infectious animal diseases, such as African swine fever and avian influenza.
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Postmigrant Perspectives on Just Transition: Transforming Care and Health in Eastern Germany

How are care and health negotiated in peripheral regions of southern Saxony-Anhalt in the course of a just transition, and what role do migration, as well as migration-related expectations and narratives, play in this process?
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Energy transition below ground? Subterranean Geographies of Transformation and the Geothermal Use of Mine Water in Mansfeld-Südharz

How is subterranean mine water negotiated, regulated, and valorized for geothermal use within contemporary debates on energy transitions in eastern Germany? This project investigates how energy transitions unfold “below ground,” while simultaneously illuminating the contested political negotiations and more-than-human relations that take shape “above ground.”
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Here you can find all the events where you can meet our research team. We look forward to your visit!

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Excursion to Kelbra: Opening Event for “Un/Bordering Animal Health”

30 January, 2026

On January 21, an excursion to Kelbra in the district of Mansfeld-Südharz took place under the guidance of the JTC Innovation Team A6 and Revier Scout Thomas Ernst. The excursion marked the opening event of the workshop “Un/Bordering Animal Health”.
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Exkursion in das Kranichschutzgebiet I Foto Lukas Petersohn

More-than-human geographies of transformation: Hydropolitical spaces of contamination in and around Bitterfeld-Wolfen (Eastern Germany)

29 January, 2026

How are water, pollutants, and industrial legacies in the Bitterfeld-Wolfen region politically, ecologically, and socially negotiated, and how do these negotiations shape the transformation of hydropolitical spaces?
Read more

Between Marginalization and Emancipation: Negotiations of Belonging and “Being Eastern German” in the Transformations of Southern Saxony-Anhalt

29 January, 2026

How are “being Eastern German” and belonging locally interpreted, experienced, and renegotiated in southern Saxony-Anhalt under conditions of structural change?
Read more

Animals, Power, and Space: More-than-Human Political Geographies of Animal Health

29 January, 2026

How are borders produced, legitimized, shifted, or contested in the context of the management of animal health? This research project examines more-than-human governance practices as they emerge through the management of infectious animal diseases, such as African swine fever and avian influenza.
Read more

Postmigrant Perspectives on Just Transition: Transforming Care and Health in Eastern Germany

29 January, 2026

How are care and health negotiated in peripheral regions of southern Saxony-Anhalt in the course of a just transition, and what role do migration, as well as migration-related expectations and narratives, play in this process?
Read more

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Team

Julia Ostertag

Research Associate/ PhD Candidate
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Eva Fabian, Wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin, Team C3, Foto JTC | Markus Scholz

Lukas Petersohn

Research Associate/ PhD Candidate
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Portrait Lukas Petersohn, Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter, Team A6, Foto: JTC | Markus Scholz

Marina Rottmann

Research Associate/ PhD Candidate
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Portrait Marina Rottmann, Wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiter, Team A6