Leading IRS Researcher Suntje Schmidt Appointed Full Professor at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin

The economic geographer Suntje Schmidt was appointed W2 Professor of Applied Economic Geography by the President of Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (HU Berlin) on 29 August 2023. The appointment was made jointly with the IRS, where she has headed the Research Area "Economics and Civil Society" since 2022.

Suntje Schmidt has previously held various positions at the IRS: First as a research associate, project coordinator and since 2012 as deputy head of department. In the course of the reorganisation of IRS research, she has been head of the Research Area "Economy and Civil Society" with three research groups, together with IRS Director Oliver Ibert, since 2022. Schmidt has already acquired and led several research projects, including international ones. Her research focuses on the spatial aspects of knowledge-generating arrangements and knowledge sharing, innovation and creative processes, resilience strategies in volatile labour markets, and collaborative places for sharing knowledge-generating activities.

Schmidt has held the junior professorship for Applied Economic Geography at HU Berlin since 2016. In the winter semester 2019/20 and summer semester 2020, she represented the professorship for economic geography at RWTH Aachen University. In addition to HU Berlin, she also teaches at the University of Potsdam, Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus-Senftenberg and Freie Universität Berlin.  

Professor Suntje Schmidt studied geography, American studies and business administration at the Technical University of Berlin, HU Berlin and City College in New York. In 2011, she completed her doctorate at the Department of Geography at HU Berlin with a thesis on the channels, effects and spatial implications of knowledge spillovers in the knowledge economy.