HM’s first independent doctorate

Hochschule München congratulates Çağan Varol on the successful defence of his dissertation. The doctoral candidate from the Department of Applied Social Sciences [HB1.1] completed his doctorate at the Doctoral Center for Social and Health Science in Designing Transformation Processes (PZSGT), a joint Doctoral Research Center run by Hochschule München, the Georg Simon Ohm University of Applied Sciences in Nuremberg and the East Bavarian University of Applied Sciences in Regensburg.

With the successful defence of his doctorate, Varol has made history in two ways: his is the first independent doctorate by an HM doctoral candidate and the first doctorate successfully completed at the PZSGT.

Research on migration and urban spaces
In his dissertation, entitled ‘Negotiation Zones of a Racialised Topography – The Problematisation of Migration in Cologne’s Keupstraße and the Materialisation of Entrepreneurial Spatial and Urban Strategies’, Varol examines how migration policies take effect at the urban level and how societal problematisations of migration become entrenched spatially, discursively and in practice.

The dissertation centres on Cologne’s Keupstraße as an example of the interplay between migration, urban development and social negotiation processes. Methodologically, the dissertation combines a genealogical-ethnographic approach – that is, a blend of historical-discourse-analytical reconstruction and qualitative fieldwork on site – with analyses of interviews, media and documents.

The doctorate was supervised by HM Professor Gabriele Fischer as the first supervisor and Prof. Dr. habil. Clarissa Rudolph of OTH Regensburg as the second supervisor.

The successful completion of this doctorate exemplifies the growing research strength of Universities of Applied Sciences and the new opportunities for supporting early career researchers within the HAW landscape.

Lisa Miethke