For a lively and fruitful exchange, the CSI invites international fellows to Heidelberg. Together, the aim is to contribute to research and teaching in various subject areas. Senior Fellows at the Center for Social Investment and Innovation (CSI) are Prof. Dr. Adalbert Evers, Prof. Dr. Andreas Schröer, Dr. Ekkehard Thümler and Jed Emerson. If you would like to contact us or the Fellows of the CSI, please contact us directly!
Adalbert Evers, Dr. rer. pol., was professor at the Justus-Liebig-University Gießen from 1993 to 2013. His professorship for comparative health and social policy was also associated at the department of social and cultural sciences and at the department of agricultural sciences, ecotrophology and environmental management. Prior to this, he received his doctorate in 1977 at the University of Bremen (summa cum laude). He was habilitated in 1988 at the Goethe University Frankfurt with a thesis on the "handling of uncertainty". From 1983-1993 he worked at the European Centre for Social Welfare Policy and Research in Vienna (Austria). He has also conducted research at the School of Social Policy at the University of Manchester, the Institute of Social Sciences (Goethe University Frankfurt), the Institute for Human Sciences (Vienna) and the Institute for Advanced Studies at the University of Birmingham. He also worked as an appointed expert in the Enquete Commission "Future of Civic Engagement" of the German Bundestag (2002). Adalbert Evers' work focuses on social services in the field of health and social policy, in particular in the field of care for the elderly, day care for children and labour market integration.
Publications (Selection):
- Volunteering and Civil Action: Boundaries Blurring, Boundaries Redrawn (2019)
- Diversity and Coherence: Historical Layers of Current Civic Engagement in Germany (2019)
- Falsch verbunden. Zur (Wieder-)Annäherung von institutionalisierter Politik und organisierter Zivilgesellschaft. (2018)
- State, Market, Civil Society: The political dimension of combining their different logics (2017)
- Social Policy and Citizenship: The Changing Landscape (2012)
- Handbuch Soziale Dienste (2011)
He was project director at CSI (2008-2016).
Ekkehard Thümler is the founder and managing director of the EdTech company Tutoring for All gUG (www.tutoringforall.de). He has held executive and management positions at the Joachim Herz Foundation, Bertelsmann Foundation, Baden-Württemberg Foundation as well as the Vodafone Foundation. At the CSI, he directed an international research program on social innovation strategies of philanthropic organizations.
His research focuses on social impact and social innovation as well as system transformation, with a focus on education and school development. He received his PhD from the University of Heidelberg with a thesis on impact and innovation strategies of philanthropic organisations.
- Mission: Education for the 21st Century. How Innovation Policy could Accelerate the Transformation of the German School System (2022)
- Auf dem Weg zu einer Transformation des deutschen Schulsystems: Von der Energiewende lernen (2020)
- Bringt "Success for All" Erfolg für alle? Beitrag für das Deutsche Schulportal (2019)
- Philanthropy in Practice. Pragmatism and the Impact of Philanthropic Action - Routledge Studies in the Management of Voluntary and Non-profit Organizations. (2017)
- Philanthropy and Education. Strategies for Impact. (2014)
Jed is a widely recognized, international thought leader on impact investing, performance metrics and sustainable finance. As originator of the term "blended value," he has spent over two decades exploring how capital investment strategies may be executed to create multiple returns. He has held appointments at Harvard, Stanford and Oxford business schools and has written extensively on impact investing, social return on investment, and related areas. He is co-author of the book, Impact Investing: Transforming How We Make Money While Making A Difference, the first book published on the topic of impact investing. Jed’s latest book, The Purpose of Capital: Elements of Impact, Financial Flows, and Natural Being, is an exploration of our historic journey to understand the purpose of capital and meaning of money. Copies of the e-Book are offered for free with hard/paperback copies priced at cost (i.e. waiving royalties) in order to help promote a new, deeper conversation in the field of impact investing with regard to how we approach both wealth management and our understanding of the value we create over the course of our lives.