At the core of her work is a differentiated examination of what is transferred, who is involved, and how transfer processes unfold in international VET cooperation. The dissertation demonstrates that vocational education and training transfer is best understood as a context-sensitive, network-mediated innovation process, shaped by actor constellations, social capital and situational adaptation rather than by the replication of predefined models.
Empirically, the work advances the field through:
- the analysis of the complexity of VET services and their input-, process- and output dimensions,
- a longitudinal investigation of business model innovations among German VET providers in international contexts,
- a multi-perspective egocentric social network analysis capturing social capital and network dynamics in international innovation projects, and
- the development of a typology of international VET transfer, distinguishing adaptive and transformative forms of transfer and highlighting their practical implications.
Disputation / doctoral colloquium: Shortly before Christmas, Lisa Meyne successfully defended her dissertation at the University of Bremen. In her presentation, she convincingly integrated these strands into a coherent analytical framework linking transfer, innovation and networks. The subsequent discussion focused on methodological choices, the explanatory power of network-analytical approaches, and the implications of her findings for the design and governance of international VET cooperation. Throughout the disputation, she demonstrated analytical depth, theoretical clarity and a highly reflective engagement with the discussion.
The examination board consisted of (picture, from left to right): Dr. Christine Siemer, Prof. Dr. Matthias Pilz, Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Michael Gessler, Prof. Dr. Falk Howe, Dr. Andreas Saniter, PD Dr. Susanne Peters, and Dr. Ida Kristina Kühn.
Wishing Lisa every success in her postdoctoral academic and professional career.