Dr. Klaus Krumme
Curriculum Vitae
Dr. Klaus Krumme is a transdisciplinary sustainability scientist with a systems-oriented and transformative research profile at the intersection of society, economy, environment, and technology. He studied environmental sciences, biology, geography, and philosophy at the universities of Bochum and Essen. He completed his doctoral thesis at the University of Duisburg-Essen in the interdisciplinary field between economic geography and sustainability science.
At the core of his academic interest lies the identification and mobilisation of systemic leverage points for transformation processes, particularly in urban-industrial contexts. His research focuses on the development of transformative services – so-called Ecological Value-Added Services – within logistics and supply infrastructures, the application of collaborative governance approaches such as Transition Management, the further development of Social-Ecological-Technological System (SETS) heuristics, and the analysis of Social Tipping Dynamics in the context of Strong Sustainability and Ecological Economics.
At the University of Duisburg-Essen, he currently coordinates the Industrial Sustainability Initiative (ISI), a strategic initiative within the University Alliance Ruhr (UA Ruhr) in close cooperation with Ruhr University Bochum, TU Dortmund, Fraunhofer institutes, and a growing network of international partner institutions, including the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia (UNIMORE, Italy) and the National Technical University Kharkiv (Ukraine). He is also a member of the coordination board of the UA Ruhr’s Metropolitan Research Area (KoMet). Since April 2025, he has held an Adjunct Professorship in Sustainability Science and Transformation at the National Technical University Kharkiv / Polytechnic Institute (Ukraine).
Previously, Klaus Krumme served as Executive Director and Executive Board Member of the Joint Centre Urban Systems (JUS), an inter- and transdisciplinary research institution at the University of Duisburg-Essen dedicated to the sustainable development of urban and metropolitan regions. From March 2023 to August 2024, he jointly led the founding of the European Centre for Sustainability Transformation (EUZENT) at Rhine-Waal University together with Dr Jan-Hendrik Kamlage (RUB), while simultaneously serving as Visiting Professor for Planning and Management for Sustainable Systems. From 2006 to 2019, he was the founding Executive Director of the Centre for Logistics and Traffic (ZLV) at the University of Duisburg-Essen and co-coordinator of the university’s newly established profile area “Urban Systems – Sustainable Development, Logistics and Mobility”, which later evolved into the Joint Centre Urban Systems.
His research activities span a wide thematic range – from urban and regional supply systems to circular economy models, sustainable consumption and resilient infrastructures. A central conceptual framework is the notion of Production–Supply–Consumption Ecosystems (PSC-Ecosystems), which enables the systemic analysis and design of cross-sectoral value creation, material flows and service architectures. Methodologically, he works with system dynamics (SD), life-cycle assessments (LCA), ecological footprinting (EF), participatory systems mapping (PSM), and transition labs.
Beyond academia, Klaus Krumme is deeply committed to fostering knowledge dialogue and societal engagement in sustainability transformation. He is a strong advocate of transformative science approaches involving all relevant stakeholder groups. He serves as Deputy Chairman of DIALOGistik, a non-profit platform for education, sustainability and knowledge transfer based in the Port of Duisburg, and as Board Member of the Green Deal Dataspace Association, founded in 2023 and based in Düsseldorf. The association is dedicated to the development of data-driven, resilience-oriented sustainability solutions in the European context.
His academic work is shaped by extensive international collaboration. He has been involved in numerous exchange formats, training programmes, and research partnerships supported by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), and the European Union. In addition to his European activities, his regional cooperation priorities lie in the MENA region, East Africa, China, and Southeast Asia – with a particular focus on Indonesia.
Contact Details:
Room WST-C.03.04
Berliner Platz 8
45127 Essen