Martin Franz

Martin Franz's research focuses on the effects of major social and economic changes, in particular economic structural change, digitalization, processes of globalization and the sustainability transition, and the resulting reactions of affected individuals, companies and institutions. He is particularly interested in how different groups of actors try to influence social and economic changes and adapt themselves - or their activities - to these processes.
After studying geography, sociology and cartography in Bochum, Martin Franz initially worked at the Center for Interdisciplinary Ruhr Area Research (now Regional Research) in Bochum from 2002 to 2006. He then moved to the schools of geography at the Philipps University of Marburg. There he completed his doctorate in 2008 under Prof. Dr. Bernhard Butzin on the topic: "Brownfield development in Europe and the institutional dimension of sustainability, illustrated by the example of Upper Silesia". This was followed in 2011 by his habilitation on the topic of "Changing power structures in agro-food networks - case studies from India". In the winter semester 2013/14, Martin Franz's work as a temporary academic advisor in Marburg was interrupted by a deputy professorship for economic geography at the University of Bayreuth. Since October 2014, he has held the professorship for human geography with a focus on economic geography at Osnabrück University. He is a member of the   Institute of Environmental Systems Research. In 2016, he was awarded the title of honorary visiting professor by the Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, Wuhan, China, until 2019. From 2018 to 2022, he was Head of the Institute of Geography at Osnabrück University. Since 2018, he has been Editor-in-Chief of '  Standort - Zeitschrift für angewandte Geographie'.