Born in 1941 in Budapest/Hungary; German nationality since 1964; Professor of Sociology at the University of Osnabrück/F.R.G. from 1973 to 2006, Prof. em., also from the Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University, Tokyo, Japan; several times Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences; Vice-president of the University from 1995 to 1997; co-ordinator for international co-operation of the Department of Social Sciences until 2004; Co-founder of ECOS-Consult, Osnabrück (part-time activities there); Co-founding Director of the Institute for Migration Research & Intercultural Studies/IMIS & of the interdisciplinary research group Third World – Development & Environment; Founding Director of the Europe Research Centre & the Japan Research Centre at the University of Osnabrück, Founding member & fellow of the EU Institute in Japan, Tokyo Consortium (2004-); member of the scientific council of the Fondation Camp des Milles (http://www.campdesmilles.org/home2.html), member of the supervisory board and president of the scientific council of the Institut Fédératif Européen Pluridisciplinaire (IFEP) « Droits, Régulations et Transformations Sociales » (2010-), Université Aix-Marseille, France.

Studies in Frankfurt a.M., Aix-en-Provence, Münster, Cologne, Algiers, Bochum & Free University of Berlin.

Academic degrees: Diplom-Soziologe (1965); Dr.sc.pol. (1967, both Westfälische Wilhelms Universität Münster, Germany).

Assignments: from 1990 to 1994 Member of the Executive Committee of the International Sociological Association (ISA), member of its Finance & Membership, Publications, Program Committees, & in charge of the preparation of the XIII^th World Congress of Sociology in Bielefeld in 1994; representative with the International Social Science Council & UNESCO; Vice-president (1983-1987) & President (1987-1991) of the ISA-Research Committee (RC 10) Participation, Organisational Democracy & Self-Management; 1990-1994 Founding President of the ISA-RC 24 Environment & Society; 1978-1988 member of the board of the Association Internationale de Sociologues de Langue Française (AISLF); President of its RC Sociologie de l'Autogestion, founding member of its RC Entreprise & Société; representative of the Society for the Advancement of Socio-Economics for Germany (1990-1998); president of the University committee of the German Trade Union Federation Lower Saxony-Bremen 1992-1995; 1993-1994 member of the Research Commission of the State of Lower Saxony; since 1993 expert to the Commission of the European Communities. Evaluator of the European Commission for the Socio-Economic Environmental Research Programme in 1993, for the Targeted Socio-Economic Research Programme in 1995, and of the Training & Research Mobility Programme 1996-2008, of the German Academic Exchange Office (DAAD) 1983-2009 and the Soros Foundation 1996-2004; member of the supervisory board of the Hans-Böckler-Foundation (2000-2006), its commission for co-determination research, its working group for study promotion, its working group for Ph.D. promotion, its university selection committee; expert to the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living & Working Conditions. 1998 nomination as expert in the field of evaluation by the European Commission, DG XIX; member of the international board of the Centre International Pierre Mendès/Paris, France (1996-); Founding President of the International Network Regional & Local Development of Work & Labour/RLDWL (1999-2010). In 1999 & 2000 chair of the socio-economic panel for Marie-Curie Fellowships, European Commission DG XII; International board of the Austrian Study Centre for Peace & Conflict Resolution. Member of the advisory committee of the Co-ordination Action on Human Rights Violations/CAHRV (EU funded 2004-2009), Member of the Accreditation Commission of FIBAA, the European Agency for Accreditation of Higher Education Curricula (2007-); of the Centre for Leadership Research at Tsinghua University, Peking (2007-) and of the Research Center for Humanities and Social Sciences, National Chiao Tung University, Hsinchu/Taiwan.

Main Publications: Participation, Workers’ Control & Self-Management (London, SAGE 1988; translated into Greek, Russian, Slovakian, Chinese); International Handbook of Participation in Organizations, Vol. I (Oxford University Press, 1989); The State, Trade Unions & Self-Management (de Gruyter, Berlin/New York 1989); Concise Encyclopaedia of Participation & Co-Management (de Gruyter, Berlin/New York 1992); Labour Relations in Transition in Eastern Europe (de Gruyter, Berlin/New York 1992); Participation, Organizational Effectiveness & Quality of Working-Life in the Year 2000 (P. Lang Frankfurt et al. 1994); Johan V. Galtung (1996), European Integration & Social Theory (1997), New Societies & Old Democracies in Europe (P. Lang Frankfurt et al. 2001); European Labour Relations, 2 vols. (Gower/Ashgate 2001); Ways to Social Peace in Europe (Secolo, Osnabrück 2000); Participation, Globalisation & Culture (P. Lang Frankfurt et al. 2002); The Injustice at Work – an International View on the World of Labour and Society (P. Lang Frankfurt et al. 2002); Political Socialisation, Participation & Democracy (2003); Environmental Challenges for Japan & Germany (P. Lang Frankfurt et al. 2004); Labour, Globalisation & the New Economy (P. Lang Frankfurt et al. 2005); Corporate Social Responsibility in the EU & Japan (P. Lang Frankfurt et al. 2006); Education, Labour & Science – Perspectives for the 21^st Century; (P. Lang Frankfurt et al. 2008); European Social Integration – A Model for East Asia? (P. Lang Frankfurt et al. 2009); Quality of Life & Working Life in Comparison (P. Lang Frankfurt et al. 2009); Social Innovation, the Social Economy & World Economic Development – Democracy & Labour Rights in an Era of Globalization (P. Lang Frankfurt et al., 2009); Economic Crisis and Social Integration (P. Lang Frankfurt et al., 2011); Beyond GDP (Indian Journal of Industrial Relations, April 2011); Fukushima – Die Katastrophe und ihre Folgen. Frankfurt a.M. et al., Peter Lang, 2013; South Korea and Germany since 1945. Cold War, Post-Cold War and Anti-communism. (Frankfurt a.M. et al., Peter Lang, 2014). Altogether more than 300 scientific publications.

Board member of the following reviews: International Review of Sociology/Revue Internationale de Sociologie, Rome (1986-); Current Sociology/Sociologie Contemporaine, ISA/SAGE, London (1990-1998); Lien Social et Politiques – Revue Internationale d'Action Communautaire, Montréal (1986-1996); Autogestion & socialisme/Autogestions, Paris (1978-1986); Society & Natural Resources, New York/USA (1993-1996); Écologie Politique, Paris (1992-); Management & Change, New Delhi (1998-); Vision: The Journal of Business Perspective, Gurgaon/Haryana, India (2004-). International Journal of Japanese Sociology, Blackwell, Oxford; International Journal of Management Sciences, Lagos/Nigeria (2009-); Contexto e Educação, Unijuí, Brazil (2009-); Journal on Economic Policy and Management Studies (2011-); Journal on Economic Policy and Management Studies, Serial Publishers, Delhi (2011-); Journal of Social and Economic Development, ISEC, Delhi, Springer (2013-). Regular collaborator of the following reviews: Organization Studies, Amsterdam; Economic & Industrial Democracy, Stockholm; Sozialwissenschaftliche LiteraturRundschau (1990-); Personnel & Gestion, Bruxelles (2007-2009); Asien (2000-). 

(Co-)Editor of the following book & publication series: Work, Technology, Organisation, Society, Peter Lang, Frankfurt a.M. et al. (1996-2006); Labour, Education & Society, Frankfurt a.M. et al. (2006-); WURF Verlag (1983-1990); Japan Research Centre/University of Osnabrück (1997-); Asia-Europe-Pacific-Institute, Osnabrück (2000-2008); Jahrbuch Frieden & Wissenschaft, VR Göttingen (1994-); Educação Popular e Movimentos Sociais, Unijuí, Brazil (2007-); Comparative International Regional Studies, Peter Lang, Frankfurt a.M. et al. (2010-). Academic Memberships: International Sociological Association (1982-), Association Internationale des Sociologues de Langue Française (1970-); International Industrial Relations Association (1996-2006); Society for the Advancement of Socio-Economics (1994-2000); Vice-president & Director German-Japanese Society for Social Sciences (2006-2008); Euroscience (Founding member, 1997-); East Asia Society/OAG, Tokyo (2006-); the Asia-Europe-Pacific-Institute; the Association Work. Environment. Society. Technology/VAUST (1987-2006); founding member of the UNESCO Forum of Researchers on Human Settlements and member of the German-speaking Association for Third World Studies (AfEf) 1995-2005. Evaluator: European Commission (DGs Employment & Research), State of Lower-Saxony, FIBAA, DAAD, Hans Böckler Fdt., Chinese, Japanese, Austrian, Finnish, Czech, Swiss Academies of Science, South African National Research Fund etc. Visiting professor at: Université Paris IX-Dauphine; Université de Nice; École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales/Paris (several times); University of Rome ‘La Sapienza’; Université de Lyon II; Université de Montréal; Université Laval, Québec; The University of Hull/U.K.; University of Katowice/Poland; Institutes of Sociology, Hungarian Academy of Sciences & Bulgarian Academy of Sciences; University of Lucknow, India; Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Bombay/India; Estonian Institute of Management; Malta University (two times); Chuô-University, Tokyo (several times); Seikei-University, Tokyo; Hitotsubashi University, Tokyo (several times); University of Piraeus/Greece (several times), University of Ijuí/Brazil (two times); Vrije Universiteit Brussel (several times); Technical University of Vienna; Work Research Institute, Oslo; University of Durban-Westville/KwaZulu Natal, South Africa (two times); University of Palermo/Italy; University of Basel/Switzerland, University of Cyprus (several times); Université de Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso; University of Murcia; Spain, University of Bologna. Italy; University of Aix-Marseille III; Soochow University, Taiwan (two times); Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, Port Elizabeth, South Africa; South China Normal University, Guangzhou (2006); Seoul National University; Sung Kyun Kwan University; Chung-Ang University, all in Seoul (2007, 2009, 2010); National Chiao Tung University, Hsinchu, Taiwan (2009); Bunkyo University, Japan (2009). Lecturing visits funded by German public authorities (DFG, DAAD) in China (Peking & Shanghai 2009), India (MDI Gurgaon, Bhubaneswar, Hyderabad & Kottayam 2008), Australia (Brisbane, Sydney, Canberra & Melbourne 1997), Poland (Lodz & Katowice, Warsaw, 1990). Awards: Research fellow Algerian Government (1964); Government of the Ivory-Coast (1964/65); DAAD (Algeria 1965/66), Volkswagen-Foundation (1966/67); German Marshall Fund of the United States (1987); Faculty Enrichment Programme of the Canadian Government (1988); Academy-Award (Volkswagen-Foundation 1989); Japan Society for the Promotion of Sciences (1991, 2001, 2009); South African National Research Foundation (1999); Japan Foundation (1999); DAAD/China Scholarship Council (2003 & 2004); Korean Research Fdt. (2007); Johann Gottfried Herder Fdt./DAAD (2010).
Organisation of Congresses/workshops/Round Tables et al: since 1982 organization/co-organization of numerous events namely in Paris, Brussels, Osnabrück, New Delhi, Boston, Hyderabad/India, Geneva, Uppsala/Sweden, Sofia, Athens, Piraeus, Chemnitz, Lima, Madrid, Woudschouten/The Netherlands, World Congress of Sociology, Bielefeld 1994, Maastricht, Durban/South Africa (twice), Rio de Janeiro etc.; organizer of the stream “Work & Organisation” during the 6^th European Sociological Congress (Murcia 2003) & the 7^th Congress (Torún 2005), of the RC 10 sessions during the 37^th Congress of the International Institute of Sociology (Stockholm 2005); co-organizer of the ERASMUS-programme European Industrial Relations (1993-2000), Organiser of the international conference ‘Labour oriented research in Europe in the Nineties’ (1992), co-financed by the European Commission (EC), DG V; the International Conference “The Dynamics of Wage Relations in the New Europe” financed by the EC, DG V, the International Conference “Ways to social Peace in Europe”, November 1998, under the patronage of Jacques Delors & co-financed by the EC, DG V; Osnabrück, May 2002 “Labour, Globalisation & the New Economy”, sponsored by the EC, the European Foundation for the Improvement of the Quality of Working Life, the European Trade Union Institute & the Hans Böckler Foundation (HBS); “Corporate Social Responsibility in the EU & Japan”, Tokyo, November 2004, financed by the EU Institute in Japan, Tokyo Consortium; “Education, Science & Labour – Perspectives for the 21^st Century”, September 2006, Osnabrück, sponsored by the European Foundation for the Improvement of the Quality of Working Life, the Lower Saxony Ministry of Science & Culture, & the HBS; Seoul National University (2007), 6^th RLDWL Congress “Social Innovation & Labour”, UQAM/Montréal, Canada (June 2008), 10^th Meeting of the German-Japanese Association for Social Sciences, Osnabrück (August 2008), 7^th RLDWL Congress “Labour & Sustainable Development”, Peking (2010); “20 years of German unification – a critical assessment”, Seoul (2010); 8^th RLDWL Congress “Regional & Local Sustainable Development”, Bhubaneswar/India (2012). Co-operation: with some 30 research centres world-wide & a number of organisations for social dialogue, namely the EU Japan Centre for Industrial Co-operation, Korea-EU Senior Forum. Coordinator of the DAAD-HOST programmes with Chuô & Hitotsubashi Universities, Tokyo (1998-2005); of the DAAD PPP-CSC Project with Renmin University, Peking (2003-2007). Main Research Areas: Corporate Social Responsibility; Science & Technology Assessment; Environment & Society; Regional & Local Sustainable Development; Ecological Management; Participation & Self-Management; Comparative Labour Relations; New Technologies & Trade Unions; Arms Conversion; European Studies; North-East Asian Studies, namely Japan, Korea & China; Third World Studies; Social History & Societal Theory; Qualitative Empirical Research. Main Research Projects: Regional Mobility (DFG, 1969-1971), Computer & workers (German Federal Ministry of Research, 1977-8), Trade Unions & Codetermination (Robert Bosch Fdt. & Lower Saxony Ministry of Research, 1988), Regional Development & Trade Unions (German Federal Employment Agency, 1987-1989), Participative Military Conversion (Volkswagen Fdt., 1994-1996), Trade Unions & democratic participation (EU/CFDT, 1994-1996), Sustainable Development for the Region Osnabrück-Bentheim Emsland (EU, 1996-1997), Economic success through environmental protection (German Federal Environmental Fdt., 1995-1997), The Dynamics of Wage Relations in the New Europe (EU, 1995-1997), Intercultural Competence in Companies (Volkswagen Fdt., 1997-1999), Multipliers for environmental protection (German Federal Environmental Fdt., 1997-2000), Employment & Big Cities (Bernard Brunhes Consultants, Paris, 1999), Japanese Joint Ventures in China (Japan Foundation, 1999), Overcoming marginalisation: Structural obstacles & openings to integration in strongly segregated sectors (EU, 2001-2003), Corporate Social Responsibility in the EU & Japan (EU Institute in Japan, Tokyo Consortium & Hitotsubashi University, Tokyo, 2004/5), Does a Progressive Income Tax leads China  to Become a Welfare State? & Trade Unions and income regulation system in China (Hans Böckler Foundation, 2006-7); Ecological Modernization into Low Carbon Society (Japan Foundation, 2006-2011). Supervision: Altogether more than 80 Ph.D. finished under my supervision (27 from abroad, 21 women), 12 are still working on their thesis (4 from abroad, 6 women); six Habilitations; 19 have become professors (8 from abroad, 2 women); two Dr.h.c. (Johan Galtung & Menachem Rosner); as well as hundreds of Bachelor, Master, Diploma and state examination theses.

Publications