Research group: security ethics

The social negotiation of security moves between a super fundamental right to security and the warning against security as a seemingly natural antagonist of freedom. The security ethics research group reflects on the value of security in different contexts. Questions of social cohesion play just as much a role as civil protection, police security actions or the protection of critical infrastructures.

More information about the research group

With its interdisciplinary approach, the security ethics research group analyzes security research, measures and policies empirically as a starting point for systematic ethical reflection on security actions. In the spirit of ethics in the sciences, the research group aims to conduct security research not only about society, but also with society. With this in mind, our work is based on the inclusion of as many perspectives as possible from the actors concerned. Many of the projects carried out are therefore transdisciplinary, so that partners from science and practice can conduct research together. In addition, this approach requires regular communication in and with society.

Lead

Team

Dr. Marco Krüger
(Critical) security studies, resilience, security and care, gender and security, surveillance studies

Dr. Friedrich Gabel
Inclusive civil protection, justice, disaster safety/disaster bioethics, security and exclusion

Jonathan Lübke
Social philosophy and social theory, epistemology and philosophy of science, philosophical anthropology, moral philosophy

Dr. Katharina Krause
Critical security studies, visual IR, global health governance, care ethics

Dr. Benjamin Scharte
(Systemic) resilience, civil protection, protection of critical infrastructures, complexity and uncertainty, systemic risks

Katharina Wezel
Critical security studies, feminist perspectives on health security, global health governance, sociology of knowledge

Current projects

KAI

Requirements for a more Inclusive Disaster Risk Reduction

11/2025-10/2027

University of Tuebingen

CoCare

Corona and care: care dynamics in the pandemic

02/2023-01/2026

BMBF

aKtIv

Agile network management to increase the resilience of critical water supply infrastructure

10/2022-12/2025

BMBF

Publications (selection)

Scharte, Benjamin (2024): Discussing Trust and Resilience: The Need for a Healthy Dose of Distrust. In: Risk, Hazards, & Crisis in Public Policy. URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/rhc3.12287
Gabel F., Schobert M., Krüger M. (2024): Research Ethics and Ethical Research: An Example of Integrating Ethics in R&I Research, European Journal for Security Research, LINK.
Scharte, Benjamin (2024): Translating resilience research to political practice – The case of the German Resilience Strategy. In: International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction. URL: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2024.104724
Friedrich Gabel & Maira Schobert (2024): Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities in Disaster Risk Reduction in Germany, Translated Final Report of the KIM Study, Ed. Aktion Deutschland Hilft e.V. – Germany’s Relief Coalition, translated by Christian Blind Mission e.V., Bonn., LINK.
Friedrich Gabel, Maira Schobert & Marco Krüger (2024): Research Ethics and Ethical Research: An Example of Integrating Ethics in R&I Research, European Journal for Security Research, 8, 5-23.
Katharina Wezel & Katharina Krause (2024): Embodiment and protection. Critical Studies on Security, 1–5. online first.
Schobert M., Orru K., Gabel F., Nero K., Windsheimer P., Klaos M., Naevestad T. O. (2023): Three A's of social capital in crises: Challenges with the availability, accessibility and activatability of social support, International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction (online ahead of print), LINK.
Marco Krüger (2023): Visibilising the neglected: The emancipatory potential of resilience, European Journal of International Security, 8(2), 207-226.
Friedrich Gabel, Marco Krüger, Claudia Morsut & Christian Kuran (2022): Bridging the Gap between Vulnerable Groups and Vulnerable Situations: Towards an Integrative Perspective New Assessment on Vulnerability for Disaster Risk Reduction, GAR2022 Contributing Paper. Geneva: United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, LINK.
Katharina Krause (2021): Disentangling the Protection Suit: Images, Artefacts, and the Making of the Health-Security Nexus, in: Millennium: Journal of International Studies, 49 (3), 472-497.
Marco Krüger & Kristoffer Albris (2021): Resilience unwanted: Between control and cooperation in disaster response, Security Dialogue, Security Dialogue, 52 (4), 343-360.
Marco Krüger & Friedrich Gabel (2021): From Lisbon to Sendai: Responsibilities in International Disaster Management. In: Hannes Hansen-Magnusson und Antje Vetterlein (Hg.): The Routledge Handbook on Responsibility in International Relations. London, New York: Routledge, LINK.
Regina Ammicht Quinn (Hrsg.) (2014): Sicherheitsethik. Wiesbaden: Springer VS.

Completed projects

AUPIK	Maintaining outpatient care infrastructures in crisis situations	03/2020 - 06/2023 BMBF
BuildERS	Building European Communities' Resilience and Social Capital	05/2019 - 04/2022 EU H2020
EKAMED	Ethics in disaster medicine	06/2020 - 05/2022 BBK
FLORIDA	Flexible, semi-automated analysis system for evaluating video mass data	11/2016 - 02/2019 BMBF
Hochwasser 2021	The role of private and public companies during the 2021 floods	05/2022 - 11/2022 DRK Generalsekretariat
KIM	Stocktaking on disaster management and the inclusion of people with disabilities	10/2023 - 03/2024 Aktion Deutschland Hilft e.V.
KOPHIS	Strengthening the contexts of people in need of care and assistance - interlinking BOS, care infrastructure and active civil society networks	02/2016 - 04/2019 BMBF