Graduate School

for Sustainable Energy Systems in Neighbourhoods

Advisory Committee

Prof. Dr. Torsten Bölting



Professorship for Social Sciences, Sociology of Housing and Spatial Sociology at EBZ Business School GmbH, Managing Director of InWIS Forschung & Beratung GmbH

Motivation: The residential neighbourhood has become much more important in the minds of many planners and actors in recent years – because this is where demographic change is to be observed and accompanied, integration and social innovation are taking place and, last but not least, modern supply and disposal concepts are being tried out. My motivation to accompany this Graduate School is to get to know and advance interesting approaches and projects in this context.

Thorsten Coß



Professorship for Social Sciences, Sociology of Housing and Spatial Sociology at EBZ Business School GmbH, Managing Director of InWIS Forschung & Beratung GmbH

Motivation: Ground theoretical assumptions through practice. Test pilot projects for mass implementation.
Get to know the state of science and research. Experience the point of view of young scientists and communicate their own experiences to them.

Dr.-Ing. Marco Greve



Head of Research of the ef.Ruhr GmbH

Motivation: Decentralised solutions will be a key element for the success of a transformation of our energy supply into a decarbonised era. With its mixture of different actors, a neighbourhood offers great potential here. The implementation of innovative concepts must bring these actors together in a goal-oriented manner and, if necessary, also enable exchange between neighbourhoods. This increasingly complex environment requires interdisciplinary approaches and researchers who look beyond their own core discipline and incorporate experience from the field. Therefore, I am happy to support young and motivated researchers in developing their dissertation topics and focal points in the course of their work.

Dr. Reinhard Loch



Group leader for energy efficiency at the NRW consumer advice centre, specialist advisor on the topics of energy-efficient refurbishment and the use of renewable energies in private households

Motivation: The local energy transition will be more successful if we think about sustainable concepts for construction, housing and mobility at the neighbourhood level, and for this we need research for innovative solutions.

Ruth Reuter



Energetic urban renewal, urban development funding at the Ministry of Home Affairs, Municipal Affairs, Building and Equality of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia

Motivation: The connection between research and practice from technical, social and planning perspectives, interdisciplinary, solution-oriented research and development of new strategies for improving energy efficiency in neighbourhoods and the strategic development of the improved involvement of civil society actors in terms of energy renewal and climate policy.

Dipl.-Ing. Evelin Unger-Azadi



Mobility Management and Municipal Mobility Concepts at the Ministry of Transport of North Rhine-Westphalia

Ralph Wortmann



Shareholder of the engineering office Wortmann & Wember GmbH

Motivation: The motivation to work on the advisory board comes from the common holistic approach: this is one of the founding ideas for the Graduate School and has been my approach to sustainable development for years. 

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