Prof. Dr. Matthias Groß

Contact

Prof. Dr. Matthias Groß
Head of Department

Department of Urban and Environmental Sociology
Helmholtz Centre
for Environmental Research - UFZ
Permoserstr. 15
04318 Leipzig, Germany

phone: ++49 - 341 - 6025 1746
Prof. Matthias Groß


Prof. Dr. Matthias Groß

Full CV


Supervision (MA, PhD etc.) 

Before you contact me concerning thesis supervision (at U Jena), please read the following: 


Selected Publications

Free Access Article in Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space

Marco Sonnberger, Maria Pfeiffer, and Matthias Gross (202): "Who Owns the Wind? Understanding Wind Energy Production through a Property Chains Perspective.” Available at: Access


Recent Books (Selection):

Sonnberger, Marco; Alena Bleicher & Matthias Groß, eds. (2024): Fully Revised Second Edition of Handbuch Umweltsoziologie. Wiesbaden: Springer Table of Contents

Matthias Gross and Linsey McGoey, eds. (Fully Revised Second Edition in 2023): Routledge International Handbook of Ignorance Studies. London: Routledge. Info

  • First Edition discussed in The New York Times Info, The Washington Post Info, The New Humanist Info as well as blogs and academic outlets such as Prometheus Info.

Davidson, Debra J. & Matthias Gross, eds. (2018): Oxford Handbook of Energy and Society. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. Info


Current Areas of Expertise & Research

  • Alternative Energy Systems
  • Ecological Restoration
  • Ignorance, Risk, and Knowledge
  • Real World Experiments
  • Science, Technology, and Engineering
  • Senses and Society
  • Social Theory and Analysis
  • Technology Development in the Context of Society

Curriculum Vitae

since 10/2013

Full Professor of Environmental Sociology at the University of Jena, joint appointment with Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ, Leipzig, Germany. Head of UFZ's Department of Urban and Environmental Sociology.

04/2005 - 09/2013

Senior Researcher in the Department of Urban and Environmental Sociology (granted tenure in 2009), since June 2008 deputy head of the department.

04 - 09/2012

Interim professor of Economic and Environmental Sociology at Martin Luther University of Halle

04/2002 - 03/2005

Co-Director of the "Real World Experiments Project," Institute for Science and Technology Studies, Bielefeld University

08 - 12/2003

Visiting Assistant Professor (Research & Teaching), Department of Sociology and the Environmental Studies Program, Loyola University Chicago, USA

04 - 07/2003

Guest Lecturer, Institute of Sociology, Technische Universität Karlsruhe, Germany

07/2001 - 03/2002

Post Doctoral Fellow (German Research Foundation, DFG), Institute for Science and Technology Studies, Bielefeld University

02 - 07/2000

DAAD Doctoral Fellow, Department of Rural Sociology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, USA

04/1999 - 06/2001

Doctoral Fellow in the German Research Foundation's (DFG) Graduate School "Genese, Strukturen und Folgen von Wissenschaft und Technik," Institute for Science and Technology Studies, Bielefeld University (fully funded doctoral fellowship)

01/1998 - 03/1999

Scientific Assistant at the Department of Sociology, Bielefeld University

05 - 07/1996

Work at the Center for Applied Social Analysis and Education (CASAE), Arcata, California, USA

04 - 09/1992

Volunteer work in environmental conservation and restoration projects, Involvement Volunteers Ass. Inc., Victoria, Australia


Curriculum Vitae: Education

06/2001

Dr. rer. soc. (~ Ph.D.) Sociology, Bielefeld University

01/1998

Diplom (~ M.A.), Sociology, Bielefeld University ("With Distinction")

08/1995 - 07/1996

Graduate Student. Department of Sociology, Humboldt State University, California, USA (with a fully funded fellowship)

06/1994

Vordiplom (~ B.A.), Sociology major; psychology minor, Bielefeld University

08/1991 - 02/1992

University of Bonn, M.A. program in philosophy with minors in psychology and archaeology



Academic Services (Selection)

2014 - 2018

Elected Board Member of the Research Committee 23, Sociology of Science and Technology International Sociological Association (ISA)

2011 - 2019

Elected Chair, Environment & Society Research Network (RN12), Board member since 2009European Sociological Association (ESA)

2006 - 2018

Chair of the section "Environmental Sociology" in the German Sociological Association (DGS)

since 2005

Co-founder and Editor of the journal Nature + Culture

2002 - 2010

Treasurer and board member of the Research Committee on "Environment and Society" (RC 24) of the International Sociological Association (ISA)

2002

Formation of a group for Junior Scholars in Environmental Sociology (Nachwuchsgruppe Umweltsoziologie) together with Harald Heinrichs