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The context within which academics work has been undergoing changes around the world, increasingly intensely over the past two decades as practices from New Public Management and the neoliberal agenda have entered the realm of science policy. To understand the impact of these changes and academics’ responses to them, we are undertaking an intergenerational and international study of why and how people become academics and why and how they leave academia.

Germany’s political decision of a 'transformation of the energy system' (known as the 'Energiewende') calls for a fundamental restructuring of the energy supply system over the next decades. Apart from employing renewable energy sources to an unforeseen extent, a decentralized and smart energy network system (“smart grid”) will become crucial. Smart grids are IT-based communication networks connecting energy production, storage media (e.g. batteries) and consumption. With some renewable energy sources being only available non-permanently (e.g.

A new global industrial revolution will unfold in the 21st century as a result of climate change and the decreasing availability of fossil fuels. At the core of this revolution is an energy-technology paradigm shift involving a move away from fossil energy technologies to regenerative ones. This paradigm shift will also directly affect one of the mainstays of modern societies: automobility and all road-based passenger and goods traffic.Three promising development paths have emerged in this field of innovation: the hydrogen combustion engine, the electric fuel-cell engine, and the electric battery-powered engine. We hypothesise that cultural configurations play a key role in the development and use of technical innovations.

The development of high-tech novelties usually takes place behind closed doors in research laboratories and factories, sometimes even garages. Before a new product has its public debut, it has been tested and approved in various ways. These steps are often followed by a first trial of application. Yet, what happens when a new technology meets with the daily routines of its users? What problems occur and according to which criteria are advantages and drawbacks evaluated, and with what consequences for the technology and its further development? These are the questions I ask in my dissertation project “innovative city light”.