Klemens Hering is currently working as a research associate at the chair for Corporate Sustainability Management at Friedrich-Alexander Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg. Holding a B.A. degree in Nonprofit-, Social- and Healthcare Management and an interdisciplinary M.A. degree in Philosophy, Business and Law, his research focuses on the sourcing tier of global value chains and how protection of human rights can be realised at grass root level. Other than academic experience, he has gained practical insights through internships at the German Federal Foreign Office (Berlin, Geneva), international child-protection agencies and voluntary services in Bolivia and the German Armed Forces.

His research project analyses the potential of bottom-up human rights governance solutions in the context of governance gaps. By developing, validating and testing the concept of Grassroots Compliance, a locally focused peer monitoring scheme, the aim is to better ensure the fulfillment of human rights in the context of informal small-scale production in global production networks and supply chains.