Research Profile of the School of Business Administration and Economics
The research profile of the school encompasses a broad spectrum of current, socially relevant issues from all areas of Business and Economics. In their research projects, the school's researchers combine relevance with rigor, i.e., a systematic and methodical approach that meets the recognized scientific rules and standards of their respective disciplines. researchers from the school regularly present their research at the most recognized international conferences and publish their work in high-ranked, peer reviewed scientific journals, conference proceedings and publication series.
Researchers from the three departments Business Administration, Economics and Information Systems work together at the school. We also conduct research in network with researchers from other universities and research institutions in order to address the economic and social challenges of our time. Osnabrück University offers an excellent environment for our disciplinary and interdisciplinary research. We see ourselves as teaching researchers who pass on the scientific knowledge they gain through their research activities in their teaching.
Some examples of current research projects at the school (as of 2025):
- The DFG-funded Research Training Group ECORISK investigates the causes and consequences of sudden transitions in ecosystems. Such "Ecological Regime Shifts" can trigger cascading effects worldwide. ECORISK uses an interdisciplinary team and a holistic approach to investigate these shifts, their risks and how they are perceived by various stakeholders.
- Several projects are researching the use of AI-based technologies such as blockchain, chatbots or virtual reality applications not only in economic or technical application domains, but also, for example, in healthcare.
- Numerous projects on the department level are investigating current, socially relevant topics such as international financial flows, currency risks, banking regulation, sustainability in corporate reporting, social behavior, human-machine interaction and teleworking.
As part of the UOS2020 strategy process, Osnabrück University has developed six research profiles which have established interdiciplinary research networks at the university. Researchers from the school are actively involved in three of these networks, in particular:
- A total of seven departments in the School of Business and Economics are involved in the Digital Society - Innovation - Regulation research network under the leadership of the Department of Accounting and Information Systems. The research network examines in particular the effects of digitalization on consumers, companies and markets as well as processes of digital innovation.
- In the Cognition: Human-Technology Interaction research network, researchers from the school work on issues relating to the interaction between humans and digital technology, for example in the context of decision support through AI both in the corporate context and for students.
- The school, in particular the department of Environmental Economics, is also a significant contributor to another research network of Osnabrück University, entitled Human-Environment Networks. The main objective of the network is to contribute to a breakthrough in the understanding of complex human-environment networks and thus create the basis for meeting the central challenges of the coming decades.
