Institute for Economic and Social History









PROF. DR. HARTMUT BERGHOFF



Prof. Dr. Hartmut Berghoff is on Research leave during Summer Semester 2025 and Winter Semester 2025/26







EDUCATION AND EMPLOYMENT






  • Since 2001

    Director of the Institute of Economic and Social History at the Georg-August-Universität Göttingen (Germany)



  • 2025

    Visiting Scholar University of California San Diego



  • 2022

    Lecturer at the Invisible University for Ukraine, organised by the Central European University in Vienna



  • 2016–2019

    Visiting Fellow at the Henley Business School/University of Reading



  • Since 2015

    Visiting Professor, Zürich University (Switzerland), MAS-Course in Applied History



  • 2008–2015

    Director of the German Historical Institute, Washington DC



  • 2007

    Visiting Professor at Maison des Sciences de l'Homme, Paris



  • 2006

    Visiting Professor at Harvard Business School, Harvard University, Boston, Mass. U.S. as Alfred D. Chandler, Jr., International Visiting Scholar in Business History



  • 2002–2003

    Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study, Berlin



  • 2001

    Full-time, tenured Professor of Economic and Social History at Georg-August-Universität Göttingen (Germany)



  • 2000–2001

    Professor of Economic History at Humboldt-Universität Berlin



  • 2000–2004

    Part-time Professor of Business History at WHU Otto Beisheim Graduate School of Management in Koblenz (Germany)



  • 1999–2000

    Temporary Professor of Economic and Social History at Eberhard-Karls-Universität Tübingen (Germany)



  • 1997–2000

    Reader (Oberassistent) at Eberhard-Karls-Universität Tübingen



  • 1991–1997

    Lecturer (wissenschaftlicher Assistent) at Eberhard-Karls-Universität Tübingen (Prof. Dr. H.-P. Ullmann)



  • 1990

    Consultant at the German Science Council in Cologne



  • 1989

    Doctorate at Bielefeld University (under Professor Dr. Sidney Pollard)



  • 1986–1990

    Researcher at the University of Bielefeld (Prof. Dr. S. Pollard)



  • 1980–1986

    Studies at Bielefeld University, Cambridge University, London School of Economics, TU and FU Berlin.












AWARDS






  • 2010

    Distinguished Partner Award, Humanities Council, Washington DC



  • 2007

    Newcomen-Harvard Article Award 2006, the Newcomen Society of the United States, for the year’s best article in Business History Review



  • 2005

    Second prize of the competition "Das Historische Buch 2004", organized by the internet forum H-Soz-u-Kult. The co-edited volume "Wirtschaftsgeschichte als Kulturgeschichte" was voted second-best book published in 2004 in the category "Modern History"



  • 2005

    Alfred D. Chandler, Jr., Scholarship of Harvard Business School for 2006



  • 2002

    Fellowship at the Institute for Advanced Study, Berlin



  • 1998

    Winner of the ABB-Wissenschaftspreis of the Baden-Württemberg Museum of Technology and Work in Mannheim, donated by Asea, Brown und Boveri AG (Award for excellent studies in Economic and Business History)



  • 1990

    Prize for the best PhD-thesis in History at the University of Bielefeld in 1989, donated by the Westfälisch-Lippische Universitätsgesellschaft












MAJOR GRANTS






  • Since 2009

    Project supervisor "Immigrant Entrepreneurship. German-American Business Biographies." Grant from the German Federal Ministry of Economics (BMWi) at the German Historical Institute in Washington



  • Since 2009

    Founding member and project supervisor Nachwuchsforschergruppe (Research Training Group) "Transatlantic Perspectives. Europe in the Eyes of European Immigrants to the United States, 1930-1980" of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) at the German Historical Institute in Washington



  • Since 2004

    Founding member and project supervisor of the Graduiertenkolleg (Research Training Group) "History of Generations. Generational dynamism and historical change" of the German Research Council at the University of Göttingen



  • 2003–2009

    Founding member and project supervisor of the Graduiertenkolleg (Research Training Group) "Interdisciplinary Environmental History" of the German Research Council at the University of Göttingen



  • 1999–2001

    Founding member and project supervisor of Sonderforschungsbereich (Collaborative Research Centre) "Experiences of War" of the German Research Council in Tübingen












REVIEWING ACTIVITIES FOR ACADEMIC JOURNALS



  • Business History (Großbritannien)

  • Business History Review (USA)

  • Economic History Review (Großbritannien)

  • Enterprise & Society. The International Journal of Business History (USA)

  • European Review of Economic History (Großbritannien)

  • German History (Großbritannien)

  • Journal of Modern European History (Deutschland)

  • Zeithistorische Forschung (Deutschland)

  • Zeitschrift für Unternehmensgeschichte (Deutschland)








REVIEWING ACTIVITIES FOR RESEARCH FUNDING ORGANIZATIONS AND FOUNDATIONS



  • Alexander von Humboldt Stiftung (Bonn)

  • Andrew W. Mellon Foundation (New York)

  • Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (Bonn)

  • European Commission, Research Executive Agency (Brussels)

  • European Science Foundation (Straßurg)

  • Fonds zur Förderung der wissenschaftlichen Forschung (Wien)

  • Fritz Thyssen Stiftung (Köln)

  • Gerda Henkel Stiftung (Düsseldorf)

  • Historisches Kolleg (München)

  • Holberg Prize Academic Committee (Bergen)

  • L'Institut universitaire de France (Paris)

  • Max-Planck-Gesellschaft. Geistes-, Sozial- und Humanwissenschaftliche Sektion des Wissenschaftlichen Beirates (München)

  • Research Council of Norway (Oslo)

  • Swiss National Science Foundation (Bern)

  • Tiroler Wissenschaftsfonds (Innsbruck)

  • Volkswagenstiftung (Hannover)

  • Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin. Institute for Advanced Study (Berlin)








HONORARY POSITIONS



  • Since 2000: Elected member of the Economic History Committee of the Verein für Socialpolitik

  • 2003–2012, since 2014: Member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Gesellschaft für Unternehmensgeschichte (Society for Business History)

  • Since 2003: Member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the journal Zeithistorische Forschung (Contemporary History Research)

  • 2003–2008: Editor-in-chief of the journal Zeitschrift für Unternehmensgeschichte (Journal of Business History)

  • 2004–2014: Member of the Board of Trustees of the Schmölders-Stiftung für Verhaltensforschung im Wirtschaftsleben (Schmölders Foundation for Behavioral Research in Economic Life); Chairperson from 2009 to 2011

  • 2005–2008: Member of the Executive Board of the Stiftung Wirtschaftsarchiv Niedersachsen (Foundation for the Economic Archive of Lower Saxony)

  • Since 2006: Member of the jury of the “Historisches Buch” (“Historical Book”) competition

  • Since 2008: Member of the advisory group of the Zeitschrift für Unternehmensgeschichte

  • Since 2009: Member of the Editorial Advisory Board, Business History Review

  • Since 2009: Member of the Editorial Board, Enterprise and Society

  • Since 2009: Trustee, Business History Conference (USA)

  • Since 2011: Board member, Central European History Society of the American Historical Association (AHA), USA

  • Since 2013: Member of the Editorial Advisory Board, Journal of Historical Research in Marketing

  • Since 2013: Member of the Advisory Board of Enterprise of Culture, a research project funded by Humanities in the European Research Area II (HERA II) at the School of History, University of Leeds, UK

  • Since 2013: Member of the Investment Committee of the Business History Conference

  • Since 2013: Member of the advisory board of the online edition “Key Documents on German-Jewish History from the Early Modern Period to the Present,” at the Institute for the History of German Jews, Hamburg

  • Since 2014: Member of the Nominating Committee of the Business History Conference

  • Since 2014: Member of the Program Committee of the National History Center of the USA

  • Since 2014: Member of the Editorial Board, Business History








MEMBERSHIPS



  • American Historical Association (AHA)

  • Arbeitskreis kritische Unternehmensgeschichte (AKKU)

  • Business History Conference (BHC)

  • European Business History Association (EBHA)

  • German Studies Association (GSA)

  • Gesellschaft für Sozial- und Wirtschaftsgeschichte (GSW)

  • Gesellschaft für Unternehmensgeschichte (GUG)

  • Verband der Historiker Deutschlands

  • Verein für Sozialpolitik (VfS)









Portrait photo of Hartmut Berghoff. He is wearing a light blue shirt and a blue jacket.


Quicklinks





Contact



Prof. Dr. Hartmut Berghoff
Institut für Wirtschafts- und Sozialgeschichte
Georg-August-Universität Göttingen
Platz der Göttinger Sieben 5
37073 Göttingen
Germany

+49-(0)551-39-25521Berghoff@uni-goettingen.deOffice MZG 6.146

Lecture period
Consultation hours; Wednesday from 4-5 pm: registration via StudIP
Lecture-free time
Consultation hours after individual agreement per Mail