Social & Human Infrastructures for Future Transitions (SHIFT)

The research group “Social and Human Infrastructures for Future Transitions” (SHIFT) brings together experts from the fields of political science, sociology, psychology, communication science, education, and economic research. This project deals with the so-called double transformation: climate change and the upheavals caused by new digital technologies.

SHIFT combines two existing lines of research at the University of Erfurt into a joint, interdisciplinary research project. Until now, these challenges have mostly been considered separately, and their different levels – individuals, organizations, or state structures – have also been examined separately. The new SHIFT research group aims to overcome this fragmentation by conducting an integrated, interdisciplinary, and internationally comparative study of the double transformation.

To this end, the researchers are looking at several levels simultaneously: the macro level (state capacities, political systems, communication structures), the meso level (e.g., media, parties, and other organizations), and the micro level, i.e., attitudes, education, socioeconomic background, or political orientations. Their goal is to derive practical recommendations for what accepted and implementable political measures must look like.