Scholar in the field of religion and development. Research areas include the interrelation of religion and economics, sustainable development, and ecology; development policy and cooperation; Religion in Africa; religious freedom. Regional expertise on several countries in Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East (main focus: Southern Africa).

Leader of several research initiatives, such as the Livelihoods, Religion and Youth Survey (South Africa) and projects on religion and development funded by the German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). Executive editor of the journal Religion & Development (Brill).

Projektleiter, International Network on Religious Communities and Sustainable Development (IN//RCSD), Erasmus Plus Partnerländer Programm, South-Mediterranean and Sub-Saharan Africa Regional Grants, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, 2022–2025.

Project leader (with Nora Monzer), summer school Development Paradigms in Conversation: Master Class on Religious Communities and Sustainable Development, funded by DAAD, 2022.

Project leader (with Nina van der Puije), consultancy for “Circular Economy 4 Africa e.V.” on the Establishment of a Monitoring and Evaluation System in the Context of the Special Initiative Training and Employment, commissioned by Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), 2021.

Project leader (with Wilhelm Gräb), research project Driving Forces of Transformation – Religious Communities as Actors for Sustainable Development, funded by the German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), 2020–2022.

Project leader, International Network on Religious Communities and Sustainable Development (IN//RCSD), Erasmus Plus Partner Countries Programme, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, 2020–2023.

Project leader, Joint Visiting Research Fellowships on Religion and Development in Northern Iraq, funded by Malteser International, 2020–2021.

Project leader (with Juliane Stork), summer school Tensions of Transdisciplinarity: A Master Class on Religious Communities and Sustainable Development, funded by DAAD, 2021.

Project leader (with Ursula Hans & Juliane Stork), summer school Between Cosmology and Community – Religious Communities and Sustainable Development, funded by DAAD, 2020.

Project leader (with Wilhelm Gräb), research project Potentials of Cooperation with African Initiated Churches for Sustainable Development funded by the German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), 2017–2020.

Project leader, Livelihoods, Religion and Youth Survey (South Africa), funded by RWI – Leibniz Institute for Economic Research & Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, 2016–2017.

Lead researcher, research project Are African Initiated Churches Adequate Partners for Future Development Cooperation? funded by the German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), 2015–2016.

• Öhlmann, Philipp. 2022. “South African Youth and the Labour Market.” Youth 2(4), 441-456. https://doi.org/10.3390/youth2040032.
• Öhlmann, Philipp & Ignatius Swart. 2022. “Religions and the Environment”. In: The State of the Evidence in Religions and Development, hrsg. v. Joint Learning Initiative on Faith and Local Communities (JLI), Washington, DC: JLI, 33–40.
• Öhlmann, Philipp, Olufunke Adeboye, Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu, Barbara Bompani, Nadine Bowers-Du Toit, Jennifer Philippa Eggert, Marie-Luise Frost, Wilhelm Gräb, Juliane Stork, Ignatius Swart, Tanya van Wyk & Olivia Wilkinson. 2022. “A New Journal for a New Space: Introducing Religion & Development”. Religion & Development 1 (1), 1-24. https://doi.org/10.30965/27507955-20220001.
• Öhlmann, Philipp. 2021. “Religion and Labor Market Performance: Is It What You Believe or How Much?” Religions 12 (2), 102. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel12020102.
• Stork, Juliane & Philipp Öhlmann. 2021. Religious Communities as Actors for Ecological Sustainability in Southern Africa and Beyond. Report. Research Programme on Religious Communities and Sustainable Development. Berlin: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. https://doi.org/10.18452/23587.
• Öhlmann, Philipp, Marie-Luise Frost & Wilhelm Gräb. 2021. Potentials of Cooperation with African Initiated Churches for Sustainable Development. Research Results and Policy Recommendations for German Development Policy. Berlin: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. https://doi.org/10.18452/22892.
• Hensold, Julian, Jordan Kynes, Philipp Öhlmann, Vanessa Rau, Rosa Schinagl & Adela Taleb (Hrsg.). 2020. Religion in Motion. Rethinking Religion, Knowledge and Discourse in a Globalizing World. Cham: Springer Nature. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-41388-0.
• Öhlmann, Philipp, Stefan Hunglinger, Marie-Luise Frost & Wilhelm Gräb. 2020. “Religion and Sustainable Development: The ‘Secular Distinction’ in Development Policy and its Implication for Development Cooperation with Religious Communities”. In: Julian Hensold et al. (Hrsg.). Religion in Motion. Rethinking Religion, Knowledge and Discourse in a Globalizing World. Cham: Springer Nature, 119–137. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-41388-0_8.
• Öhlmann, Philipp, Marie-Luise Frost & Wilhelm Gräb (Hrsg.). 2020. African Initiated Christianity and the Decolonisation of Development. Sustainable Development in Pentecostal and Independent Churches. London: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780367823825.
• Öhlmann, Philipp, Marie-Luise Frost & Wilhelm Gräb. 2020. “You Need to Change the Whole Person – African Initiated Churches and Sustainable Development”. In: Andreas Heuser & Jens Köhrsen (Hrsg.). Does Religion Make a Difference? Religious NGOs in International Development. Baden-Baden: Nomos, 305–326. https://doi.org/10.5771/9783748907633-305.
• Öhlmann, Philipp, Marie-Luise Frost & Wilhelm Gräb. 2019. Potenziale der Zusammenarbeit mit African Initiated Churches für nachhaltige Entwicklung Ergebniszusammenfassung des Forschungsprojekts und Handlungsempfehlungen für die deutsche Entwicklungspolitik. Berlin: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin.
• Öhlmann, Philipp & Silke Hüttel. 2018. “Religiosity and Household Income in Sekhukhune”. Development Southern Africa 35, 179–193. https://doi.org/10.1080/0376835X.2018.1426444.
• Marie-Luise Frost, Philipp Öhlmann & Wilhelm Gräb. 2018. “Avoiding ‘White Elephants’ – Fruitful Development Cooperation from the Perspective of African Initiated Churches in South Africa and Beyond”. In: Babatunde Adedibu & Benson Igboin (Hrsg.). The Changing Faces of African Pentecostalism. Akungba-Akoko, Ondo State, Nigeria: Adekunle Ajasin University Press, 103–118.
• Öhlmann, Philipp, Marie-Luise Frost & Wilhelm Gräb. 2016. “African Initiated Churches’ Potential as Development Actors”. HTS Theological Studies 72. https://doi.org/10.4102/hts.v72i4.3825.
• Öhlmann, Philipp, Marie-Luise Frost, Wilhelm Gräb & Rolf Schieder. 2016. Sind African Initiated Churches geeignete Partner für zukünftige Entwicklungszusammenarbeit? Wissenschaftliches Gutachten im Auftrag des Bundesministeriums für wirtschaftliche Zusammenarbeit und Entwicklung. Berlin: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. 2016.