Jonathan Hussels
Research Associate | Economy and Civil Society
03362 793-227
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Jonathan Hussels has been working as a research associate of the Research Area “Economy and Civil Society” since October 2022. He conducts research on the innovation capability of peripheral areas in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Schleswig Holstein in the BMBF funded project “SOIR - Strong through Open Innovation Regions”. He studied Geography at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and the University of Nairobi (B.A.), and Rural Development (M.Sc.) at Ghent University and the Institut Agro Rennes-Angers.

Jonathan wrote his bachelor thesis on smallholder farmers' access to agricultural extension services in Western Kenya. His master's thesis dealt with social innovation in rural areas and its relation to social transformation. For this purpose, he explored the case of grassroot community spaces in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. During his studies, he also completed internships in Kenya and Ethiopia.

Projects

Ongoing Third-party Funded Projects

Third-party funded project 09/2022 - 08/2025
Strong through Open Innovation Regions: Identifying Innovation Potential - Avoiding Lock-Ins - Expanding Societal Innovation Capacity (SOIR)

How can regional innovation policies be developed in structurally weak regions that mostly lack a critical mass of actors, institutions and a "creative buzz" to generate innovations from endogenous potentials? The research project "Strong through Open Innovation Regions" aims to close this explanatory gap by systematically interweaving regional conditions (regional innovation ecosystems) and supraregional references (translocal innovation ecosystems). To this end, we are developing an original contribution to the conceptual sharpening of societal innovation capacity with the Social Open Innovation Region (SOIR) approach. more info

Ongoing Qualification Projects

Qualification project 10/2022 - 12/2025
Reading Ruptures: A Reconstruction of Time-Spatial Rural Innovation Processes and the Negotiation of Value

In his dissertation project, Jonathan Hussels researches the construction of value in rural innovation processes. To this end, a social constructivist approach is chosen, which pays particular attention to the negotiation and contestation of value. more info

Selected Publications by Year

2024
Richter, R., Hussels, J., & Schmidt, S. (2024, Sep 13). Wissenschaft erforscht Innovationspotentiale im Landkreis LUP. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sS0ewI3PDvA
Hussels, J., Richter, R., & Schmidt, S. (2024). The Impact of Dissonance? A Valuation Perspective on Rural Social Innovation Processes. Societies, 14(7), [122]. https://doi.org/10.3390/soc14070122

Selected Publications by Type

Journal Article
Hussels, J., Richter, R., & Schmidt, S. (2024). The Impact of Dissonance? A Valuation Perspective on Rural Social Innovation Processes. Societies, 14(7), [122]. https://doi.org/10.3390/soc14070122
Event-related Publication
Richter, R., Hussels, J., & Schmidt, S. (2024, Sep 13). Wissenschaft erforscht Innovationspotentiale im Landkreis LUP. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sS0ewI3PDvA

Talks

2024
Exploring a Tautology: Rural Social Innovation as Processes of Value Creation

IFZO Jahreskonferenz

October/10/2024
Universität Greifswald

The Impact of Dissonance? A Valuation Perspective on Rural Social Innovation Processes

RSA Annual Conference 2024

June/12/2024
Florenz, Italy

2023
Innovationsräumliche Dialektik? Konzeptionelle Ansätze für strukturschwache, ländliche Regionen

Deutscher Kongress für Geographie 2023

September/21/2023
Goethe-Universität , Frankfurt am Main, Germany

Are Grassroot Community Spaces Empowering Rural Communities? A Transformative Social Innovation Perspective from Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Germany

XXIXth European Society for Rural Sociology Congress

July/06/2023
Rennes, France