Kapp Research Prize 2024 goes to Dr Hannah Heller
Dr Hannah Heller from Witten/Herdecke University was honoured for her doctoral publication.
The Kapp Research Prize for Ecological Economics is awarded by the Association for Ecological Economics together with the Selbach Environmental Foundation and anstiftung. The prize is endowed with 5,000 euros and serves to promote young scientists.
One of the two 2024 prize winners is Dr Hannah Heller, who completed her doctorate at Witten/Herdecke University on the topic of "Narratives of the socio-ecological transformation of the economy using the example of the food industry" (supervisor: Prof Dr Birger P. Priddat). She received the prize for her doctoral publication. In her work, she describes the local economic spirit as a culture of a transformative economic style and uses this to develop a proposal for a new narrative of the Great Transformation.
Abstract:
As a transformative economist, Dr Hannah Heller has developed a concept that combines narrative theory with economic style and transformation research and can help to expand the space of possibilities for transformation. Based on ten narrative interviews with economic actors from state-owned enterprises, conventional enterprises and transformative enterprises and organisations in the food industry, she explores the narratives and metanarratives as well as the organisational patterns of economic activity. She abductively develops three ideal types: the market type, the traditional type and the transformation type. The focus of the narrative analysis is on the transformation type in order to illustrate the direction of transformation between market and state. Dr Hannah Heller describes the economic spirit as the culture of a transformative economic style and develops a proposal for a new narrative of the Great Transformation based on resonance, public spirit, qualitative freedom and equality.