Activities

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 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.