Completed Dissertations

Jessica Birkholz

Dr. Jessica Birkholz

On Sept. 23, 2022, Jessica Birkholz successfully defended her dissertation entitled "Entrepreneurship and Regional Knowledge Dynamics. Empirical Evidence from Germany" with great success and was awarded her PhD. In her cumulative dissertation thesis, she focuses on the relationship between start-up activities and regional development in Germany in four empirical studies. She has published her results in the discussion paper series "Bremen Papers on Economics & Innovation" of the Institute for Economic Research and Policy (IERP).

Jessica Birkholz studied at the University of Bremen (B. Sc. and M. Sc.) before joining the working group as a research assistant in March 2018. She enriched the work of the working group in various capacities, including her work in the project "VISIBLE 2.0". Since September 2022, Jessica Birkholz continues her scientific career in the working group in the BMBF project "hyBit".

Matheus Leusin

Dr. Matheus E. Leusin

In the period from November 2018 to April 2022, Matheus Leusin worked as a research associate (doctoral student) on his dissertation thesis on "Technological Change and Absorptive Capacity: An Evolutionary Perspective of Artificial Intelligence" in addition to tasks in teaching. Additionally, he was a member of the Diginomics Research Group. He successfully passed his doctoral colloquium on June 17, 2022.

His cumulative dissertation thesis examines in three empirical studies the worldwide emergence and diffusion of technologies linked to Artificial Intelligence (AI) using patent data. The thesis provides a comprehensive overview of the technological development of AI, how this development was reflected on countries’ exploration of this technology, and how the most recent wave of AI development affects the innovative activities of firms that introduce AI innovations. He has published his results in the journal "World Patent Information", among others.

As of August 2022, Matheus Leusin will continue his scientific career as a postdoctoral researcher in the Evolutionary Economics working group at the University of Bremen. Under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Christian Cordes, he will also pursue an habilitation. 

Katharina Friz

Dr. Katharina Friz

In the period from March 2018 to August 2021, Katharina Friz worked as a research associate (doctoral student) on her dissertation thesis on "Transition economies and the impact of crises" in addition to tasks in the externally funded project "NEO-Indikatorik". She successfully passed her doctoral colloquium on April 22, 2022.

Her cumulative dissertation thesis examines the impact of economic and political crises, as well as the climate crisis, on the innovation activity of firms in post-socialist transition economies and the support of the political system in Russia. The thesis comprises three empirical studies in which she applies current quantitative methods to data from business surveys. As part of her doctoral studies, Katharina Friz visited the Institute of Economics, Finance and Management at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow for a research stay.

Since February 2022, Katharina Friz continues her academic career at the Management School of Maastricht. 

Bild: Nora Albu

Dr. Nora Albu

On May 21, 2021, Nora Albu successfully defended her dissertation entitled "Basic Structure of the Economy and Structural Change. An input-output analysis using the example of Germany and France" with success and was thus awarded her doctorate. Her dissertation addresses the question which sectors in an economy can be considered basic in the sense of basic sectors. She examines this using the example of the German and French economies and applying input-output-based methods. The empirical work has high topical relevance, as economic crises such as the global economic and financial crisis of 2008/2009 and the current pandemic-related crisis raise the question of public stabilization programs. 

Nora Albu studied economics and political science at London Metropolitan University (bachelor's degree) and subsequently obtained a master's degree at the London School of Economics and the Free University of Berlin. Since then, she has been working in empirical economic research at the WifOR Institute in Berlin and was an external PhD candidate of the working group from 2019 to 2021.

Mariia Shkolnykova

Dr. Mariia Shkolnykova

From May 2017 to September 2020, Mariia Shkolnykova worked as a research assistant (PhD student) in the department's teaching, third-party funded projects and committee work, and also wrote her dissertation on the subject of "Firm innovation and industry transformation. The case of German Biotechnology". On September 10, 2020 she successfully completed her doctoral colloquium.

The cumulative dissertation deals with the emergence and development of biotechnology in Germany, which has been strongly promoted since the 1980s through targeted technology policy measures and later also contributed to the emergence of the bio-economy. The thesis comprises four empirical papers applying modern methods of quantitative economic research to patent and company data. As part of her doctoral studies, Mariia Shkolnykova visited the Nordic Institute for Studies in Innovation, Research and Education (NIFU) in Oslo for a research stay.

Mariia Shkolnykova continues to work as a research assistant (postdoc) in the research group to continue her innovation economics work and to gain further qualifications in empirical economic research and teaching.

Tobias Wendler

Dr. Tobias Wendler

From October 2016 to January 2020, Tobias Wendler worked as a research assistant on his dissertation on "Green Technologies and their Role for Sustainability", in addition to teaching and third-party funded projects. In March 2020 he successfully completed his doctoral colloquium.

In his cumulative dissertation, he deals with the effects of environmental innovations on the reduction of greenhouse gases and on the conservation of natural resources in the countries of the European Union. He places the four empirical papers in an interdisciplinary context, which is fed by natural, environmental and social science considerations on sustainability. With a focus on green technologies and natural resources, his work makes an important contribution to empirical innovation economics.

Tobias Wendler continues to work as a research associate (postdoc) in the research group, including a project to study the transformation of energy supply in the steel industry (H2B) and the establishment of the Bremen Research Centre for Energy Systems (BEST).

Maria Kristalova

Dr. Maria Kristalova

On July 03, 2019 Maria Kristalova successfully completed her doctoral colloquium at the University of Bremen. Her cumulative dissertation thesis, entitled “The economic impact of international uncertainties. Sanctioning effects, foreign direct investment and firm behavior in Russia“ includes empirical papers about the economic effects of uncertainties in the context of the Russian economy. From 2015 to 2018 she was a scientific employee in the working group “Innovation and Structural Change” (Prof. Dr. Jutta Günther) at the University of Bremen. Since January 2019, Maria Kristalova is a scientific employee (Habilitandin) within the project Mod-Block-DDR at the Faculty of Economics of the Friedrich Schiller University of Jena.

Marion Schwärzler

Dr. Marion Cornelia Schwärzler

Marion Cornelia Schwärzler was an external PhD candidate in the working group and wrote her dissertation on the topic “The Multiregional Health Account – A Multiregional Analysis of the Health Economy in Germany”. Therein, she engaged with the economic effects of the health economy on production and employment in Germany from a regional economic perspective. Her empirical analyses are based upon a multiregional input-output model. The colloquium took place on October, 18, 2018. Marion Cornelia Schwärzler was a scientific employee at WifOR in Darmstadt from October 2013 to January 2018. Since February 2018, she works as Data Science Consultant at Deloitte Analytics Institute in Berlin.

Mahmood Shubbak

Dr. Mahmood Shubbak

Mahmood Shubbak wrote a cumulative dissertation entitled "Forging Ahead - Technology Development and Emerging Economies". His empirical work is based on patent data analyses and deals with the emergence and dynamics of the technological innovation system of solar photovoltaics in China. The PhD colloquium took place on April 3, 2018. During the European Association for Evolutionary Political Economy (EAEPE) conference in Nice, France in September 2018, Mahmood Shubbak was awarded the EAEPE Simon prize for his research paper presented during the conference. Dr. Mahmood Mahmood Shubbak is now a postdoc researcher at the Center for Industrial Mathematics (ZeTeM) at the University of Bremen.

 

Maria Mustertochter

Dr. Nicole Nulsch

Nicole Nulsch wrote her cumulative doctoral thesis about "Essays on the Economic Effectiveness of European Competition Law". In theoretical and empirical papers she analysed the economic effects of competition policy measures within the European Union. She defended her dissertation thesis on March 28, 2017. Nicole Nulsch was a scientific employee at the Leibniz Institute for Economic Research Halle in the department led by Jutta Günther earlier. At the moment Nicole Nulsch holds a leading position in the Verbundnetz AG in Leipzig.