People

Prof. Dr. Nina Baur

All People

  • Role in Center:

    Director & Action Speaker

  • Discipline:

    Methods of Social Research

  • University:

    Technische Universität Berlin

  • Country:

    Germany

Biography: Prof. Dr. Nina Baur was appointed to the Chair for Methods of Social Research (W3), Department of Sociology, at the Technische Universität Berlin (TU Berlin) in 2009. She is the Director of the “Global Center of Spatial Methods for Urban Sustainability” (GCSMUS).

She grew up in Germany, the USA and the UK and studied sociology at the Otto-Friedrich-Universität Bamberg, Universität Hamburg (Germany), and Lancaster University (UK).  Prior to her professorship appointment at the TU Berlin she worked as a research associate and lecturer at the Otto-Friedrich-Universität Bamberg and the Katholische Universität Eichstätt-Ingolstadt (KU). Prof. Baur is the Past President of the „Research Committee on Logic and Methodology in Sociology“ (RC33), a board member of the “Research Committee on Historical Sociology” (RC56) of the “International Sociology Association” (ISA), and a board member of the Collaborative Research Center “Re-Figuration of Spaces” (SFB 1265).  She advises the German Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection (BMJV) as a member of the Advisory Council for Consumer Affairs (SVRV) and is the Managing Editor of the Journal “Historical Social Research” (HSR).

Selected Publications:

  • Baur, Nina (2023): Long-Term Processes as Obstacles Against the Fourth Ecological Transformation. Ecological Sustainability and the Spatial Arrangements of Food Markets. In: Historical Social Research (HSR) 48 (1): 105-145. https://doi.org/10.12759/hsr.48.2023.06

  • Baur, Nina/Blasius, Jörg (Eds.) (2022): Handbuch Methoden der empirischen Sozialforschung (“Handbook Methods of Social Research”). 3rd edition. Wiesbaden: Springer Fachmedien. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-37985-8

  • Baur, Nina/Mennell, Stephen/Million, Angela (2021). The Refiguration of Spaces and Methodological Challenges of Cross-Cultural Comparison [44 paragraphs]. In: Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung / Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 22(2), Art. 25, https://doi.org/10.17169/fqs-22.2.3755

  • Baur, Nina/Castillo Ulloa, Ignacio/Mennell, Stephen/Million, Angela (2021). The Refiguration of Spaces and the Refiguration of Epistemic Cultures: The Changing Balance of Involvement and Engagement in Fundamental and Applied Research [75 paragraphs]. Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung / Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 22(3), Art. 21, http://dx.doi.org/10.17169/fqs-22.3.3810

  • Baur, Nina (2021): Decolonizing Social Science Methodology. Positionality in the German-Language Debate. In: Historical Social Research 46 (2). 205-243. https://doi.org/10.12759/hsr.46.2021.2.205-243

  • Million, Angela/Haid, Christian/Castillo Ulloa, Ignacio/Baur, Nina (Hg.) (2021): Spatial Transformations. Kaleidoscopic Perspectives on the Refiguration of Spaces. London/New York: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003036159

  • Baur, Nina /Kulke, Elmar/Hering, Linda/Fülling, Julia (2021): Dynamics of Polycontexturalization in Commodity Chains. In: sozialraum.de 13 (1). URL: https://www.sozialraum.de/dynamics-of-polycontexturalization-in-commodity-chains.php

  • Hergesell, Jannis/Baur, Nina/Braunisch, Lilli (2020): Process-Oriented Sampling. In: Canadian Review of Sociology 57 (2). 265-285. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/cars.12281

  • Braunisch, L./Schweia, M./Graeff, P./Baur, N. (Eds.) (2020): Challenges for Big Data Analysis. Data Quality and Data Analysis of Analogous and Digital Mass Data. Forum of Historical Social Research (HSR), 45 (3). https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Nina_Baur/publication/342623404_Challenges_for_Big_Data_Analysis/links/5efd6d8fa6fdcc4ca44497af/Challenges-for-Big-Data-Analysis.pdf.

  • Baur, N. (2017): Process-oriented Micro-Macro-Analysis. Methodological Reflections on Elias and Bourdieu. In: Historical Social Research (HSR), 42 (4), 43–74. https://doi.org/10.12759/hsr.42.2017.4.43-74

  • Baur, N. (2018): Kausalität und Interpretativität. Über den Versuch der quantitativen Sozialforschung zu erklären, ohne zu verstehen (“Causality and Interpretativity. On the Failed Attempt of Quantitative Research to Explain without Understanding”). In: Akremi, L./Baur, N./Knoblauch, H./Traue, B. (Eds.) (2018): Handbuch Interpretativ forschen (“Handbook Interpretative Research”). Weinheim: Beltz Juventa, 306–360.

  • Baur, N. (2005): Verlaufsmusteranalyse. Methodologische Konsequenzen der Zeitlichkeit sozialen Handelns (“Social Pattern Analysis. On Methodological Consequences of Time in Social Action”). Wiesbaden: Springer VS. English summary. In: Baur, N. (2008): Taking Perspectivity Seriously. A Suggestion of a Conceptual Framework for Linking Theory and Methods in Longitudinal and Comparative Research. HSR, 33 (4): 191–213. https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-322-90815-5

Areas of Expertise:

  • Methods of Social Research (especially Process-Oriented Methodology, Spatial Methods and Mixed Methods Research)
  • Market Sociology (especially Consumer Goods and Labour Markets)
  • Historical and Cross-Cultural Sociology
  • Sociology of Processes, Innovations and Risks
  • Sociology of Space

Current Position(s):

  • Since 2020: Director, Global Center of Spatial Methods for Urban Sustainability” (GCSMUS), Germany
  • Since 2006: Chair for Methods of Social Research (2006–2009 W1, since 2009 W3), Department of Sociology, Technische Universität Berlin, Germany

Past Position(s)

  • 2005–2006: Assistant Professor for Sociology and Methods of Social Research (C1), Catholic University Eichstätt-Ingolstadt, Germany
  • 2000–2005: Research Associate and Lecturer for Sociology and Methods of Social Research at the Otto-Friedrich-University Bamberg and the Catholic University Eichstätt-Ingolstadt, Germany
  • 1993–1999: Student Research Assistant at the Otto-Friedrich-University Bamberg and Hamburg University, Germany

Prizes & Awards:

  • Since 2018: Project “Knowledge and Goods. Consumers’ and Producers’ Spatial Knowledge” (A03), principal investigator together with Elmar Kulke (Geography) and 2018/2019 Theory Tandem “Cross-Cultural Comparison and the Constitution of Space” together with Angela Million (Urban Planning) in the Collaborative Research Center “Re-Figuration of Spaces” (CRC 1265) funded by the German Research Association (DFG), with partners from architecture, arts, communication sciences, geography, planning, political sciences and sociology
  • 2011–2017: “Local Conventions of Hairdressing. Intrinsic Logic of Cities and Economics of Convention”, principal investigator together with Martina Löw (Sociology), in the Project Group “Intrinsic Logic of Cities”, funded by the German Research Association (DFG), with partners from political sciences, philosophy and literature from the universities of Darmstadt, Frankfurt and Heidelberg
  • 2011–2016: “Interdisciplinarity and Innovation in a Cluster Organisation” (SIEU), principal investigator in the Excellence Cluster “Unifying Concepts in Catalysis” (UniCat), funded by the German Research Association (DFG), with partners in chemistry, physics, biology and engineering from various universities and research institutions in Berlin
  • 2005/2006: “DGS Dissertationspreis” (Prize of the German Sociology Association for one of the two best PhD theses in German sociology between 2004 and 2006) and “E.ON Kulturpreis Bayern” (“E.ON Cultural Prize of Bavaria” for the best PhD thesis of Otto-Friedrich-University Bamberg in 2004/2005)

Memberships & Networks: