Activities

On 17 and 18 November 2025, 120 participants from academia and practice gathered at the Lichtenberg Campus of the Berlin School of Economics and Law for the Conference “The Politics of Supply Chains – Between Regulation, Resistance and Resilience”. The programme featured contributions across disciplines to encourage exchange between different areas of supply chain research. An interactive poster session furthermore offered early-career researchers the possibility to present their projects and engage with participants.

A detailed documentation of the conference including the presentation slides can be found here.

On October 8 2025, Prof. Dr. Klemens Laschewski from Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (Brazil) delivered an insightful presentation at the HWR Competence Centre, examining Brazil’s role as a key supplier of raw materials for global CO₂ neutrality and energy transition strategies. He highlighted the country’s highly ambitious — yet deeply controversial — mining projects, particularly the exploitation of lithium deposits in the Jequitinhonha Valley.

In addition to lithium, Prof. Laschewski discussed the growing importance of other minerals such as niobium, copper, aluminum, and iron ore, and analyzed how mining and metal industries seek to present themselves as “green” through the use of renewable fuels and large-scale energy projects.

A central focus of the talk was the social and ecological impact of these developments: large-scale land grabbing and the displacement of Indigenous and traditional communities, particularly in the Cerrado region — an area largely overlooked in international climate debates. 

In early September, researchers at the HWR Competence Centre met for a retreat in Zeitz, near Leipzig. The programme included presentations of doctoral projects as well as a one-day workshop focusing on methodological approaches, writing practices, and collaboration within the team. Held in the former pasta factory, the retreat offered the opportunity to step away from everyday routines and engage in focused discussion and exchange.

Prof. Dmitry Ivanov was voted one of the 100 most important minds in Berlin science in 2025. In times of global uncertainty and instability, his research approaches make valuable contributions to making supply chains more resilient and sustainable. Der Tagesspiegel writes: ‘Ivanov’s contributions, including 130 articles in major journals and a standard textbook, have received widespread attention. Wirtschaftswoche ranks him among the most research-intensive economists in Germany.’

Prof. Eckhard Hein, Dr. Ümit Akcay and doctoral student Philip Blees have presented their ongoing work at the 37^th
 Annual Conference of the European Association for Evolutionary Political Economy (EAEPE) in Athens, 24-26 September 2025. Eckhard Hein presented a paper, jointly written with Juan Manuel Campana, on ‘Eurozone governance and the German demand and growth regimes, 1999-2024‘, which is accepted for publication in the Review of Evolutionary Political Economy. Ümit Akcay presented joint work, also with Juan Manuel Campana, on ‘A tale of two crises: Failed attempts to reclaim policy space from financial markets in Argentina and Turkey’, and Philip Blees presented a part of his PhD work on ‘Towards a varieties of socio-economic productivity regimes approach’.

At the end of September, we travelled to Borna near Leipzig with representatives from Clusters B and C, together with colleagues from Stockholm University and GIGA Hamburg, for an expert exchange between academia and administration. This is where the branch office of the Federal Office for Economic Affairs and Export Control (BAFA) is located, which is responsible for implementing the German Supply Chain Due Diligence Act (LkSG). We exchanged views on the application process, approaches to supply chain regulation in other European countries, and data analysis and risk assessment in the context of supply and value chains. Many thanks to all those involved for the very stimulating exchange!

Prof. Dr. Dmitry Ivanov travelled to Poland and Chemnitz in September to attend several conferences. First, he gave the keynote speech at the 15th IFAC IMS Conference in Kozsalin (Poland) entitled ‘Supply chain resilience and viability at the times of tariff shocks and global uncertainty’. On 16 September, he spoke at the EUROMA CEE Workshop in Chemnitz on ‘New Trends in Supply Chain Resilience and Digital Twins’.

As part of his research stay at the MIT Centre for Transportation and Logistics (CTL), Prof. Dr. Dmitry Ivanov gave a presentation at the MIT Centre for Transportation and Logistics research seminar on 28 August 2025. The topic was ‘Tariff shocks, ripple effect, and stress testing in supply chains’.

On 17 July 2025, in the final instalment of the HWR’s 2025 Summer School, our members Martina Martinovic, Roxana Zimmermann and Mario Petoshati gave a presentation on the “Circular Economy” concept. This presentation incorporated theoretical explanations, real-life examples and practical exercises to facilitate a deeper understanding of circular economy. This led to fruitful and engaging debates and discourses amongst the students. The lecture also included two expert lectures, given by Ms Ines Göbel (sustainability manager of ZumTobel Group) and Ms Julia Breidenstein (co-founder and PR manager of Humana Kleidersammlung).

At the annual meeting of the Society for the Advancement of Socio-Economics (SASE) in Montreal, Christina Teipen presented a joint paper with Anne Martin. Their presentation, titled Conceptualizing Crisis Reactions in Various GVC Positions: Insights on National Sector Dynamics from Emerging Economies, was part of the Global Value Chains track. The conference’s overarching theme was “Inclusive Solidarities: Reimagining Boundaries in Divided Times”.The paper explores how different industries in emerging economies respond to crises—depending on their position within global value chains and the respective political and economic conditions at the national level.

As part of our Lecture Series, our colleague Helena Gräf presented her research on the effects of the German Supply Chain Act (LkSG) in the Brazilian battery value chain. Using a case study of Brazil’s automotive sector, which is gradually transitioning toward battery production, she examined how this transnational law interacts with national governance mechanisms such as industrial relations, environmental regulation, and industrial policy with a focus on labour. Her findings suggest that the LkSG can only have real impact if embedded in a strong national governance framework.

On 1 July 2025, Prof. Dr. Dmitry Ivanov gave a presentation on ‘Supply chain resilience and digital twins’ at the 11th IFAC Conference MIM 2025 in Trondheim, Norway.

Members of the HWR Research Competence Centre will present their research at The Biennial Conference of the Standing Group on Regulatory Governance at the Hertie School of Governance from 11 to 13 June 2025 in Berlin. More

In June, Prof. Praveen Jha from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), Delhi, visited HWR Berlin for a research stay. Jha has collaborated for many years with members of our Competence Centre, particularly on global value chains and questions of social justice. In his lecture, he discussed the limited effectiveness of human rights due diligence legislation in the Indian context. He argued that such laws have little impact as long as the vast informal sector—which employs over 90 percent of the workforce—is not embedded in broader domestic reforms. Sustainable change, he concluded, must be driven from within the country itself.

In April 2025, Professor Christoph Scherrer presented the key findings of his latest research on working conditions in the global freight shipping industry.

The presentation focused on case studies of ports in Germany, the Netherlands, Costa Rica, and Colombia, as well as empirical analyses of seafarers’ situations. The study examined regulatory gaps at the international level, the enforcement of national labor standards, and the responsibilities of key actors in global supply chains.

The presentation was based on the book “Work in the Supply Chain – Decent Work Deficits in Ports and on Ships” which Scherrer edited with Ismail D. Karatepe. Using the banana supply chain to northwestern Europe as an example, the book illustrates the challenges of ensuring decent working conditions at sea and in ports and highlights the social forces that maintain existing power structures.

In February 2025, Prof. Bruno De Conti, a long-standing research partner of IPE Berlin, spent two weeks as a visiting scholar at HWR Berlin. He is a professor at the University of Campinas (UNICAMP) in Brazil and conducts research on currency hierarchies in the global financial system, as well as on global value chains and their role in development strategies.

During his stay, he gave a public lecture titled “Brazil: The Current Economic and Geopolitical Scenario, and the Impacts on its Positioning in the GVCs.” In his presentation, he argued that while current economic and geopolitical shifts are indeed transforming global value chains (GVCs), these changes do not automatically benefit Brazil. Instead, any potential gains will need to be actively pursued through a strong industrial policy, supported by a macroeconomic framework that fosters, rather than undermines, industrial development.

Global supply and value chains are facing unprecedented challenges today. The new HWR Berlin Research Competence Centre will conduct research into this in the coming years. The kick-off conference at the end of November 2024 marked the start of a broad dialogue with an interested specialist audience. More

Prof. Dr. Dmitry Ivanov has once again been named a Highly Cited Researcher in the 2024 global ranking – marking the fourth consecutive year he has received this prestigious recognition.

This award places Prof. Ivanov among the world’s most frequently cited scientists in their respective fields. An internationally renowned expert in supply chain management, he also ranked first globally in the categories Supply Chainand Control in the 2024 ScholarGPS ranking under “Highly Ranked Scholar – Prior Five Years.”

From September 25 to 27, 2024, the Global Labor University Conference on “Globalisation and the Transition to an Egalitarian World: Resistance and Alternatives” took place at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, India.
Anne Martin, Stefanie Lorenzen, Hansjörg Herr, Martina Sproll, Petra Dünhaupt, and Christina Teipen (from left to right) took the opportunity to present and discuss their latest research on global value chains with an international audience.
The conference provided an inspiring platform for exchange with scholars, trade unionists, and activists from around the world.