Research at IU

As a state-accredited university and pioneer in vocational education, IU International University of Applied Sciences (IU) is committed to lifelong application-oriented research, discovery, and innovation.

IU is home to a thriving academic community with expertise across diverse disciplines, including IT & engineering, business, human resources, logistics and hospitality. Our professors actively embark on cooperative projects with the federal government, practice partners, and companies in diverse industries to meet research challenges and the needs of society.

Our research reinforces our teaching and learning, shaping our degree programmes and strengthening our partnerships. This enables us to continually deliver top-quality, industry-relevant education that empowers students from all around the world.

IU Publications

Female students talking about a book in a library

Trend Studies

What does the future of learning look like? How does IU keep up with global changes and the increasingly digitised world? And how does that impact the learning and the education that you’ll receive as a student at IU?

The IU Trend Studies are self-published publications of IU. These studies include qualitative and quantitative surveys among students, practice partners, and IU professors.

Discussion Papers

As the main online university publication, the IU Discussion Papers provide our professors with the opportunity to share current research results or discuss theses across diverse subject areas.

Subject areas

Marketing & Communications: Will clearer messages close the Green Gap? An Examination of Attitude Formation in Organic Produce Buying ( C. Fox, 2020)
Social Sciences: The Impact of Personality on Timing and Dynamics of Partnership Formation. A Longitudinal Approach (O. Zimmermann, 2022)
Business & Management: Exploring Markets – Non-Fungible Token (D. Weber, 2022)
Assessment and Analysis of Accounting and Finance apps in Start-ups in Germany: an explorative study (S. GOEL, C.N. BERRONES-FLEMMIG, 2022)
Exploring Markets: Magic the Gathering - a Trading Card Game (D. Weber, 2021)
Risk-Adjusted Return in Sustainable Finance (J. Gardenier, V. Lac, M. Ashfaq, 2021)
Peculiarities of Services –a Critical Reflection (C. B. Welker, 2020)
The Balanced Scorecard – Dinosaur or Giant? (A. Schulke, 2020)
Tourism & Hospitality: Holidays at home –Camping and Glamping as a part of domestic tourism (K. Sommer, 2020)
The individual monetary valuation of online hotel ratings (C. Evangelinos, A. Obermeyer, A. Bartel, 2020)
An initial assessment of economic impacts and operational challenges for the tourism & hospitality industry due to COVID-19 (A. Thams (IU) N. Zech (IU) D. Rempel (IU) A. Ayia-Koi ( Cape Coast Technical University, Hospitality Management), 2020)
Transportation & Logistics: Lessons from the COVID-19 Situation: Rethinking Global Supply Chain Networks and Strengthening Supply Management in Public Procurement in Germany (M. Helmold, M. Einmahl, K. Rassmann, L. N. Carvalho, 2020)
Regional Air Traffic in Germany( C. Brützel, 2020)
A look at Airline Management as Event Management (C. Brützel, A. Schulke, 2019)
Cost Benchmarking Long Distance Train vs. Aircraft (C. Brützel, 2019)
Had it with Meetings? In Aviation, more gets done with four Team Facilitations. (R. Eckhardt, A. Schulke, 2019)
Human Resources: Transforming Organizational Culture Amidst a Diverse Workforce: A Qualitative Study in the Service Industry (G. Weber, M. Martensen, 2021)
Skilled Migration: Bridging the Conceptual Gap Between Friendship, Social Capital, and Employability (D. Potts, M. Martensen, 2020)
Handling the Shortage of Nurses in Germany: Opportunities and Challenges of recruiting nursing staff from abroad (E. Reiff, C. Gade, S. Böhlich, 2020)
GenerationZ: A comparative study ofthe expectations of Gen Z and the perception of employers (S. Böhlich, R. Axmann, 2020)
IT & Engineering: Strategic Planning of Public Charging Infrastructure (M. Günther, M. Fallahnejad, 2021)

Studentin sitzt mit Unterlagen am Schreibtisch

Young Talents @ IU

At IU, we recognise, promote, and award outstanding students who have produced remarkable work during their time at IU. In addition to the Best Thesis Award, the Diversity Award also honours student theses that deal particularly with the topic of diversity.

Graduates whose Bachelor’s or Master’s theses are published in scientific or specialist media will also receive a publication grant of €500 in recognition of this achievement.

A young female algorithmics engineer writes notes on a glass wipe board in an office.

Research Projects

As a state-accredited university, IU actively undertakes research projects through third-party funding partnerships and co-ops, as well as IU start up-funding initiatives and incubator projects.

Some of our ongoing projects are funded by:

European Union
German Federal Ministry of Research and Development (Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung)
The European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESA - ESTEC)
Stifterverband der Deutschen Wirtschaft – Innovation in Higher Education Teaching

To foster a research environment that develops and drives ideas forward, IU has also built a research structure comprising of three pillars: IU Research Incubator, IU Research Centre, and IU Research Institute.

Young Women in STEM - What are the barriers for female students and young women to enter STEM fields and which tools are suitable to reduce these barriers? Read more here.