Jens Koehrsen (Köhrsen) is a professorfor religion and economics at the Centre for Religion, Economy and Politics (ZRWP). He has studied sociology, philosophy and evangelical theology (Mag.), social sciences (Dipl.) and economics (Dipl.) at the Carl von Ossietzky University Oldenburg, University of Salamanca and the University of Buenos Aires.

Fascinated by the relationship between social inequality and religion, Jens Koehrsen conducted his PhD research on the religious tastes and styles of middle-class Pentecostals in Argentina. In 2013, he received his PhD in sociology from the University of Bielefeld and the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS).

Towards the end of his PhD, he started to work in the area of sociology of innovation at the Carl von Ossietzky University Oldenburg, conducting a collaborative research project on local energy transition processes in Germany and France. In 2016, his research interest in the societal transformations towards sustainability drove him to the Environmental Change Institute at the University of Oxford where he was an honorary research associate until 2018.

He was a visiting professor for sociology at the University of Münster in the winter term 2017/18 and at the University of Leipzig in the winter term 2019/20.

Currently, Jens Koehrsen is undertaking social science research about sustainability and climate change and the relationship between religion and sustainable development. He is supervising the SNSF-projects "Are Religions Becoming Green?" and "Ecovillages as Incubators for Sustainability Transitions" as well as other projects (see lists of research grants below). He participates in the network "Sustainable Future" and is a board member of the groups "Sociology of Sustainability" and "Sociology of Religion" at the German Sociological Association.

Sustainability Transitions, Climate Change, Religion and Sustainable Development, Social Change, Social Differentiation, Social Theory, Mixed Methods Research.

SNSF-project: Ecovillages as Incubators for Sustainability Transitions: What Boundary-Bridging Arrangements Facilitate the Diffusion of Innovations in Different Settings?

SNSF-project: Are Religions becoming Green? Faith-Based Environmentalism in Switzerland

EUCOR-project: Synergies from an Integrated Renewable Energy Supply and Storage System in the Upper Rhine Region: An Interdisciplinary Analysis (SIRES_URR)

Mercator-project: Co-Visioning The Future: Die Zukunftsvisionen von Nachhaltigkeitsinitiativen

SNSF-project: Urban Green Religions: Religion in Low Carbon Transitions in two Western European Cities

DFG-project: The Innovation Dynamics of Prosperity Gospel (at the Cluster of Excellence “Religion and Politics" at the University of Muenster)

EUCOR-project: Food-Democracy and Meta-Organizations

Koehrsen, Jens; Huber, Fabian (2021) “A field perspective on sustainability transitions: The case of religious organizations”, in: Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions40, p. 408–420, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eist.2021.09.005

Koehrsen, Jens (2021) “How to Negotiate Class Ambiguity: A Boundary Work Approach”, in: Zeitschrift für Soziologie 49 (5–6), p. 356–37; https://doi.org/10.1515/zfsoz-2020-0029

Koehrsen, Jens; Dickel, Sascha; Pfister, Thomas; Rödder, Simone; Böschen, Stefan; Wendt, Björn; Block, Katharina; Henkel, Anna (2020) “Climate Change in Sociology Still Silent or Resonating?” in: Current Sociology; https://doi.org/10.1177/0011392120902223

Koehrsen, Jens; Heuser, Andreas (ed.)(2020) Faith Based Organizations in Development Discourses and Practices, London: Routledge.

Koehrsen, Jens (2019) “From the “What” and “How” to the “Where”: Distinction as a Matter of Place”, in: Cultural Sociology 13 (1), p. 76–92; https://doi.org/10.1177/1749975518819669

Koehrsen, Jens (2018) “Exogenous shocks, social skill, and power: Urban energy transitions as social fields“, in: Energy Policy 117, p. 307–315; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2018.03.035

Koehrsen, Jens (2018) “Religious Agency in Sustainability Transitions: Between Experimentation, Upscaling, and Regime Support“, in: Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions 27, p. 4–15. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eist.2017.09.003

Koehrsen, Jens (2017) “Boundary Bridging Arrangements: A Boundary Work Approach to Local Energy Transitions.”, in: Sustainability 9 (424). www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/9/3/424/pdf

Koehrsen, Jens (2016) Middle Class Pentecostalism in Argentina: Inappropriate Spirits. Leiden/Boston: Brill. http://booksandjournals.brillonline.com/content/books/9789004310148

Koehrsen, Jens (2015) “Does Religion Promote Environmental Sustainability? – Exploring the Role of Religion in Local Energy Transitions”, in: Social Compass 62 (3), p. 296-310; https://doi.org/10.1177/0037768615587808

Mattes, Jannika; Huber, Andreas; Koehrsen, Jens (2015) “Energy transitions in small-scale regions – what we can learn from a regional innovation systems perspective”; in: Energy Policy 78, p. 255-264; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2014.12.011