Dr. Verena Timmer

Head of ZNU-Research
Verena.Timmer@uni-wh.de

Vita

Verena Timmer has been a research associate at ZNU since the beginning of 2013 (with interruptions due to parental leave) and has headed the ZNU research department since 2023. In the BMBF research project “BioVal”, she is currently researching how management tools can help to reduce negative corporate impacts on biodiversity and even develop positive effects instead. She is also researching how companies can use digitalization to integrate sustainability into their practices and promote corporate resilience.

As a senior consultant in a sustainability consultancy, Verena Timmer supports companies in implementing sustainability management systems, making sustainability measurable at company and product level and carrying out stakeholder analyses.

In her doctorate at the Dr. Werner Jackstädt Endowed Chair for Controlling and Corporate Management at the University of Witten/Herdecke, she deals with topics of routine research, algorithms and considers special corporate actors.

She has also been teaching the module “Sustainability as a change process” at Münster University of Applied Sciences since 2018, combining her own research interests and also inspiring her students with the interplay between the topics of sustainability, change management and corporate culture.

Verena Timmer is an oecotrophologist and studied for a Master's degree in “Sustainable Nutrition and Service Management” at Münster University of Applied Sciences.

Main areas of research

  • Change Management

  • Digitalization

  • Sustainable Sourcing

Publications

  1. Schneider, C. , Timmer, V., (2024): Leitungsebene und Geschäftsführung als Verbündete gewinnen, in: (Quer-)Einstieg ins Nachhaltigkeitsmanagement – Grundlagen und Praxiswissen für alle, die Zukunft gestalten. A. Jacobs, A. Kraemer, M. Mauermann (Hrsg.), Freiburg: Haufe, ISBN: 978-3-648-17614-6
  2. Eberle, U., Timmer, V., (2024): Praxishandbuch Biodiversitätsmanagement in der Lebensmittelwirtschaft, unter Mitarbeit von: Böhm, U., Dilly, M., Eulenstein, H., Hinrichs, T. Hoffmann, G., Hübel, C., Kellner, N., Lindner, J. P., Mumm, N., Quandt, J., Schäfer, I., Schäfer, M., Schädler, V., Seifer, A., Wenzig, J., Wiefek, J., https://bio-val.de/ergebnisse/ergebnisse-praxis/
  3. Alber, L., Timmer, V., & Wenzig, J., (2021): Berücksichtigung von Biodiversität in Unternehmen der Lebensmittelbranche: Ergebnisse einer Branchenbefragung (vorläufiger Titel), White Paper im Rahmen des Forschungsvorhabens BioVal Phase 1 (FKZ 01UT2010), https://mehrwert-nachhaltigkeit.de/media/pages/mediapool/d66e5d78ce-1727270337/biodiversitaetsmanagement_20211221_final.pdf#:~:text=Ziel%20dieses%20White%20Papers%20ist%20es,%20den%20Status%20Quo%20des
  4. Gruchmann, T., Timmer, V., Gold, S., & Geßner, C., (2021): Dynamic capabilities for sustainable change in the food processing industry: a multilevel perspective, Journal of Cleaner Production, 311, 127534, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2021.127534
  5. Kölle, A., Timmer, V., Dilly, M., Rosanowski, L., & Geßner, C., (2021): Nachhaltigkeit in der FMCG-Branche 2021, Gemeinschaftsstudie von ZNU und Lebensmittel Zeitung, Witten/Frankfurt
  6. Geßner, C., Timmer, V., & Kölle, A., (2018): Zertifizierung von Nachhaltigkeit: Welche Rolle spielen Merkmale der Unternehmensorganisation?, in: Metzner-Szigeth, A. (Hg.), Zukunftsfähige Entwicklung und generative Organisationskulturen (153–163), München: oekom-Verlag. ISBN 978-3-96006-016-1