Julian Bleh

Social psychologist, basic and applied researcher, facilitator.

Research interests

Socio-ecological change, societal visions and the ability to imagine social change (cognitive alternatives), implicit theories, social movements, political participation, quantitative and qualitative methods, experimental and longitudinal research designs, project evaluation and evaluation research

Education

since 03/2023 PhD student
Department of social psychology Leipzig University

PhD scholarship
German Federal Environmental Foundation (DBU)

09/2014 – 08/2015 M.Sc. Psychology (Behaviour Change)
Radboud University Nijmegen

09/2010 – 08/2014 B.Sc. Psychology
Radboud University Nijmegen

Work Experience

since 03/2023 Research associate
Department of social psychology Leipzig University

since 01/2016 Applied researcher, facilitator and project evaluator
e-fect eG

11/2015 – 04/2016 Research assistant
International Centre for Sustainable Development
(Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Sciences)

09/2012 – 10/2015 Writer and translator
Freelance

Publications

Articles & Preprints

Bleh, J., Masson, T., & Fritsche, I. (2025). Envisioning a possible alternative society increases support for socio-ecological change. [Full-text available]

Hess, F. M., Masson, T., Bleh, J., & Kessler, T. (2025). Heating up intergroup conflict: Radical antagonistic responses to the threats of rapid climate change. Psychology of Violence. [Full-text available]

Bleh, J., Masson, T., Köhler, S., & Fritsche, I. (2025). From imagination to activism: Cognitive alternatives motivate commitment to activism through identification with social movements and collective efficacy. British Journal of Social Psychology, 64(1), e12811. [Full-text available]

Hamann, K. R. S., Wenzel, K., Dasch, S., Junge, E., Agris, A.-S. von, & Bleh, J. (2025). How Can Psychological Research Support Movements for Socio-Ecological Change? A Qualitative Study on Psychological Challenges and Questions of Activists. Global Environmental Psychology, 3, 1–25. [Full-text available]

Books & Chapters

Hamann, K., Junge, E., Blumenschein, P., Dasch, S., Wernke, A., & Bleh, J. (2025). The Psychology of Collective Climate Action: Building Climate Courage. Routledge. [Full-text available]

Hamann, K., Blumenschein, P., Junge, E., Dasch, S., Wernke, A., & Bleh, J. (2024). Klimabewegt: Die Psychologie von Klimaprotest und Engagement. oekom verlag. [Full-text available]

Bleh, J. (2021). What do we want!? Identität, Moral und Wirksamkeit – Eine sozialpsychologische Perspektive auf die Erfolgsfaktoren der jungen Klimabewegung. In L. Dohm, F. Peter, & K. van Bronswijk (Hrsg.), Climate Action—Psychologie der Klimakrise (S. 251–282). Psychosozial-Verlag. [Full-text available]

Project reports (selection)

Lichti, M., Schulz, V., Dammann, A., & Bleh, J. (2024). Final Report – Evaluation of the “Hallo Bundestag” Project (Citizen assemblies) 2023-2024. [Full-text available]

Lichti, M., Schulz, V., Dammann, A., & Bleh, J. (2024). Abschlussbericht – Evaluation des Projekts “Hallo Bundestag” (Bürgerräte) 2023-2024. [Full-text available]

Bleh, J. (2022). Evaluation der Beteiligungsverfahren zur Überarbeitung der städtischen Leitbilder in Tengen und Brandis (Bürgerräte) 2022. [Full-text available]

Bleh, J. (2021). Evaluation Pilot Wahlkreisrat – Ergebnisse der Befragungen zu den Pilotveranstaltungen im Juni 2021 (Bürgerräte) 2021. [Full-text available]

Scheffler, D., Bleh, J. & Wagner, F. (2016). Evaluation der Wirksamkeit eines Dialogmarketings zur Steigerung des Umweltverbundanteils am Modal Split von RentnerInnen. Umweltpsychologie, 38, 85-104.

Educational work

Workshops

I have given numerous workshops introducing and applying social psychological findings to practical questions of campaigning for socio-ecological change, e.g. for organisations like BUND (Friends of the Earth Germany), Greenpeace, NABU or Demokratie-Stiftung Campact.

Teaching

Teaching experience at Leipzig University:

Project experience & Funding acquisition

Academic research

PhD project ‘Transformation als Frage der Vorstellungskraft‘ – Transformation as a Matter of Imagination: A social psychological study of what makes societal visions motivating, how they work and what role they play in promoting collective action for socio-ecological change (2023-2026) │ Phd scholarship from German Federal Environmental Foundation (DBU) (72.360 €)

Applied research (selection)

Evaluation of a regional citizen participation project on community development with the Doughnut model of social and planetary boundaries (2023-2025) │ survey, interviews, participant observation │ Next Economy Lab e.V. │ funded by Robert Bosch Stiftung (53.500 €)

Evaluation of the federal citizen assembly project ‘Hallo Bundestag’ (2023-2024) │ survey, interviews, participant observation │ Es geht LOS │ funded by Robert Bosch Stiftung, ZEIT-Stiftung, Open Society Foundations, Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung (67.000 €)

Evaluation of regional citizen assemblies in the German municipalities Tengen and Brandis (2021-2022) │ survey, interviews, participant observation │ Es geht LOS │ funded by BMI (16.000 €)

Evaluation of the project ‚GemüseKlasse‘ to promote healthy and sustainable eating habits in primary schools (2021-2023) │ survey, focus groups │ Acker e.V. funded by BMG (44.800 €)

Evaluation of the use and usefulness of the Germany Talks Climate Toolkit (2022) │ interviews │ Climate Outreach

Evaluation of the pilot of the federal citizen assembly project ‘Wahlkreisräte’ (2020-2021) │ survey, interviews, participant observation │ Es geht LOS

Consulting on the development of aims, indicators and survey designs for the impact evaluation of public relations and advocacy work (2020) │ polisphere e.V.

Evaluation of the ‘Future for All’ conference on socio-ecological visions for society (2020) │ survey │ Konzeptwerk Neue Ökonomie e.V.

Stakeholder survey on the impact of the corona pandemic on actors of Education for Sustainable Development in the State of Brandenburg (2020) │ survey │ MLUK Brandenburg

Potential analysis and development of criteria for impactful art-based communication of sustainability topics in public spaces (2019-2020) │ Stiftung Umwelt und Entwicklung

Evaluation of the campaign ‘Weltbaustellen NRW’ to raise awareness for the Sustainable Development Goals in public spaces (2018-2019) │ survey, focus groups │ Stiftung Umwelt und Entwicklung

Evaluation und monitoring of the joint project ‘Schatz an der Küste’ to promote the identification with local nature and biodiversity protection (2016-2020) │ document analysis, interviews, surveys │ Ostseestiftung Greifswald │ funded by BfN

Evaluation of the Degrogwth Summer Schools in 2017, 2018 and 2019 │ survey │ Konzeptwerk Neue Ökonomie e.V.

Potential analysis of the impact of school gardens on Education for Sustainable Development (2018-2019) │ desk research, interviews with experts and stakeholders │ NABU e.V. │ funded by DBU

Evaluation of the educational project ‘Klimabildung+’ on the management of dissonance experiences by school children (2016-2017) │ survey, focus groups │ NaturGut Ophoven

Evaluation of the TINK pilot project to introduce a rental system for cargo bikes in German cities (2015-2019) │ survey, interviews │ City of Constance and City of Norderstedt │ funded by BMVI

Facilitation (selection)

Design and facilitation of a workshop on methods for using societal visions and future scenarios in Education for Sustainable Development (2024) │ Runder Tisch BNE funded by MLUK Brandenburg

Design and facilitation of a workshop on boundary conditions and competences for running a sustainable business (2022) │ Runder Tisch BNE funded by MLUK Brandenburg

Development of a qualitative goal system and facilitation of the decision-making process towards a roadmap to climate neutrality in Lippstadt with representatives from civil society, city council and administration (2021) │ City of Lippstadt

Design and facilitation of a workshop on sustainable community development from below (2021) │ Runder Tisch BNE funded by MLUK Brandenburg

Design and facilitation of a workshop on how the Fridays for Future movement and Education for Sustainable Development actors could cooperate (2019) │ Runder Tisch BNE funded by MLUK Brandenburg

Facilitation of working groups on a possible reorientation of the funding program by the Regional Office for Development Cooperation Berlin (2018) │ Landesstelle für Entwicklungszusammenarbeit (LEZ) Berlin