Titles

• Karl-Mannheim Chair of Cultural Studies, European Center for Sustainability Research, Zeppelin University

Biography

Sociologist Nico Stehr has held the Karl-Mannheim Chair of Cultural Studies since 2004 and he is the founding director of the European Center for Sustainability Research at Zeppelin University (ZU).

In his position at the Karl-Mannheim Chair, Professor Stehr has continued to address the problems of knowledge and the question of the social role of knowledge; issues that he has been researching at renowned US-American universities for many years. He is interested in the social effects that the increased importance of the role of knowledge has in modern societies. For on the one hand more and more knowledge is available and usable by means of media, on the other the hopes once invested in such a progress in knowledge have seldom been fulfilled. The concept of knowledge and the theory of a "knowledge society" Professor Stehr has developed together with philosopher Gernot Böhme are more relevant than ever.

Professor Stehr also intensively addresses the research on the consequences of climate change, especially in the areas of adaptation and precaution. In the fall of 2011, he founded the European Center for Sustainability Research that is supported by renowned companies such as Tognum and AUDI AG. The aim of the Centre is to become a research hub with a national and international standing; to establish academic thinking in the area of sustainability even more; and to help implement current academic findings into practice.

In addition to his activities at ZU, Nico Stehr is a member of the Royal Society of Canada, and the European Academy of the Sciences and Arts. He was also a member of the expert panel "Global Governance of Science" of the European Commission.

External Links

• Website