Timur Ergen

Dr. Timur Ergen is a researcher at the Department of Economic Sociology, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies, Cologne. His work bridges economic sociology, historical methods, and industrial policy analysis.

• PhD in Social Sciences (2014), University of Cologne
• MA and BA in Sociology and Political Science/Economics from RWTH Aachen

Research interests focus on industrial policy conditionalities, climate change mitigation, moral economy, and institutional change. He explores how crises (e.g., the 1973 oil crisis) challenge established orders and enable infrastructural transformation through contested future expectations.

Recent articles examine European climate policy evolution, corporate welfare dynamics, and the socio-economics of asset stranding. His scholarship critiques romanticized small-business ideologies and analyzes globalization’s impact on comparative political economy.

• Scientific Award: John F. Kennedy Memorial Fellow, Harvard’s Center for European Studies (2022-2023)
• Organizing roles: SASE Early Career Workshop (2025), Villa Vigoni-Gespräch (2025), guest-editing Socio-economic Review special issue (2024)

He collaborates widely, including with Fabio Bulfone, Erez Maggor, and Luuk Schmitz, and contributes to debates on state-business relations and digital capitalism’s challenges to democracy.