Christian Schmidt-Wellenburg

Christian Schmidt-Wellenburg is a Lecturer at the Institute of Sociology, RWTH Aachen University, since 2024. He previously held roles as an academic assistant at the University of Potsdam (2009-2024) and as a Research Assistant at Otto-Friedrich-University Bamberg (2005-2007) and Humboldt University (2004-2005). He received his doctorate in 2013 from Otto-Friedrich-University Bamberg for research on management consultancy's role in management field changes.

• Education: Studied sociology, political science, and economics at Philipps University of Marburg, TU Dresden, University of Manchester, and Humboldt University of Berlin (graduated 2004).
• Grants & Awards:
  • Doctoral Prize of Otto-Friedrich-University Bamberg (2013)
  • Käte Hamburger Centre Fellow (2019)

Research Interests: Focus on economic sociology, relational sociology, discourse/field analysis, and social theory. His work examines how neoliberal capitalism, transnational fields, and expert discourses reshape institutions, professions, and academic knowledge production.

Publication Trends: Analyzes transnational academic fields, economic expertise in EU governance, and management consultancy's symbolic power using field theory and discourse analysis. Collaborates frequently with Andreas Schmitz, Frédéric Lebaron, and Stefan Bernhard on topics like crisis discourses in economics and the structure of disciplinary fields.

• Scientific Awards:
  • Doctoral Prize of Otto-Friedrich-University Bamberg (2013)
  • Fellow at Käte Hamburger Centre for Advanced Study in Humanities (2019)

Academic Leadership: Served as Principal Investigator for DFG project on academic field dynamics (2023-24) and coordinated DFG Research Training Group (2008-09). Co-edited multiple special issues on field analysis and transnational sociology (2012-2020).