Research projects
The complexity and lack of transparency of the phenomenon is constantly increasing in times of digital transformation and supply chains that are expanding due to increasing networking, making it more difficult to detect and prevent modern slavery. Goal 8.7 of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals calls for the abolition of modern slavery, Goal 8.8 aims to protect labor rights and safe working environments, while national legislation also addresses the issue (e.g. the German Supply Chain Duty of Care Act). Based on innovative technology applications, the project contributes to the struggle for a fair economic system and the emancipation of marginalized groups. Especially in times of multiple crisis crises phenomena such as pandemics, economic instability, political crises and wars, the need for a global sustainability transformation becomes clear, which must be designed for the benefit of humanity and especially vulnerable groups such as workers.
Project time frame: 04/2024 - 09/2026 Project leader: Prof. Dr. Stefan Gold ; Prof. Dr. André Hanelt
Research funded by the Hans Böckler Foundation
From 2023 to 2027, the University of Kassel will develop an SDG Lab for the transfer between science, business and society, which will be dedicated to the major sustainability issues of our time and is supposed to develop concrete solutions for the region of North Hesse.
The Lab is made possible by the funding program "Innovative University" with about 8 million euros and is located at UniKasselTransfer, the central institution for knowledge transfer.
Prof. Gold is head of the theme year "work and management", in which work and production are to be reimagined and tested within the framework of a socially inclusive circular economy.
More information can be found here (German website).
The graduate programme JUST was established as part of the Kassel Institute for Sustainability. It consists of four research clusters that deal with conflicting goals in the transformation to a sustainable economy, way of working and way of life. The research clusters examine
- socio-ecological sustainability through transformative education
- socio-ecological accessibility using the example of urban open space planning
- the importance of diversity and inclusion for sustainable businesses and supply chains
- the role of the social rule of law and democratic institutions, especially in regions of structural change.
Together with Prof Oliver Sträter (University of Kassel), Prof Stefan Gold heads research cluster three.
In addition to four research assistants, who are funded by the University of Kassel, twelve doctoral scholarships are awarded with funds from the Hans-Böckler-Foundation.
Further information can be found here.
The inclusion of people with disabilities at the workplace was recently emphasized by the UN Sustainable Devlopment Goals, the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities or the German "Teilhabestärkungsgesetz" (Law for the strengthening of participation of people with disabilities). But surveys show that there is still need for action, especially concerning the question of finding suitable workplaces for people with disabilities. This is surprising as research shows that people with disabilities have a lot of individual skills and strengths that ought to be valued.
People with disabilities are often perceived to be very motivated in their work, especially if the actual job matches the preferred occupation. This form of "fitting" into an occupations can have a lot of positive effects besides motivation which benefit both the worker's resilience and well-being and the organizational performance. One particularly intriguing form of this fit is an individual's calling, which is lived at work.
Empirical results show that more than half of the population feel some kind of calling. However, it might be more difficult for workers with disabilities to pursue this calling due to prevailing stigmatization as well as social and legal frameworks. These frameworks, chances and obstacles should thus be investigated further.
The aim of the project is therefore to take a closer look at working people with disabilities that live their calling and trace and analyze their way into the fitting occupation. In order to do so, people with disabilities from four occupational groups (pastors, the police, health- and care related jobs and founders) will be given the opportunity to share their individual experiences regarding inclusion and the effects of legal, social and operational frameworks in workshops with innovative methods followed by biographical interviews. In the further course of the project, these results will be reflected with experiences and evaluations of human resources managers in the respective occupational groups. Thus, it will become apparent which difficulties and possibilities exist on the way to an inclusive labour market and what can be done by employees, companies, legislation and society.
Project time frame: 01/2022 - 08/2024
Project leaders: Prof. Dr. Stefan Gold; Dr. Stephanos Anastasiadis (Police Academy Lower Saxony); Dr. Anica Zeyen (Royal Holloway University of London)
Actors in vocational training cooperation often report that the success of their projects is hampered by an unfavourable image or problematic attitudes towards vocational training. In Mexico, too, the orientation of training demanders, training institutions and companies towards academic training is an obstacle to the implementation of dual vocational training. This phenomenon, which has so far been described somewhat vaguely in terms of the white-collar syndrome, will be analysed for Mexico.
More specifically, subjective constructions of meaning (such as horizons of expectation, social representations, or stereotypes of work) are surveyed, and are then related to collective forms of institutionalization of work and employment relationships.Thus, the project aims at developing an understanding of the cultural practices and institutional frameworks that shape, for example, career choices.
The project strives for developing and testing a set of tools for analysing practices related to cultures of work, which will contribute to vocational pedagogical theory building. The toolset can also be used in the realm of vocational training cooperation for the purpose of comparative country studies or country analyses.
Actors in the Mexican dual vocational training (Modelo Mexicano de Formación Dual, MMFD) can use the insights gained from the project, for example for the purpose of personnel acquisition, reputational gains, or the design of pedagogical settings.
Project time frame: 05/2019 - 04/2022
Project leader: Prof. Dr. Clement, Ute; Prof. Dr. Gold, Stefan
Further project participants: Prof. Dr. Raesfeld, Lydia; Prof. Dr. Vergara, Martha
Further information: https://www.blogs.uni-mainz.de/fb03-mp-invet-en/kupramex/