Caroline Ruiner has been Professor of Sociology at the University of Hohenheim since October 2019. She was previously a junior professor of sociology with a focus on the sociology of work and organization at the University of Trier. She completed her habilitation at the Faculty of Social Sciences at Ruhr University Bochum in 2018. She completed her doctorate at the University of Augsburg and previously studied business administration and sociology at Goethe University Frankfurt.
She conducts research on the transformation of work in the context of digital transformation, links this development with sustainability transformation (twin transformation) and reflects in particular on the effects of the use of AI. The effects of these developments on individuals, teams, organizations and with regard to industrial relations are examined. The results of her research have been published in peer-reviewed national and international journals such as Economic and Industrial Democracy, Employee Relations, Journal of Business Logistics, Industrial Relations and Journal of Sociology. Another important publication is a textbook (Arbeits- und Industriesoziologie, UTB 2016), which was awarded the teaching prize by the German Sociological Association.
Caroline Ruiner has experience in the implementation and coordination of empirical projects with international colleagues from France, Italy, the Netherlands, Great Britain and Austria and has organized international workshops and conferences in Germany, Greece, Japan, Italy and the USA.
Research interest
- Changes in the work environment and their effects at the individual, organizational, and inter-company level
- Labor relations of highly skilled workers, particularly solo self-employed in knowledge-intensive fields, and the role of intermediary actors
- Cooperatives as new labor market organizations
- Working conditions, digitalization, and representation of interests in logistics
- New work in different organizational contexts, especially for system-relevant areas
- Twin transformation, which is the interplay between sustainability and digital transformation, and its impact on the world of work
- Ethical design of AI and its effects on employees
