 Gehrmann studied economics and social sciences from 1960 till 1966 at the Universities of Saarbruecken, Vienna and Muenster.After completing his PhD in 1969 at the University of Munster, Gehrmann began his work as a scientific fellow at the Universities of Muenster and Augsburg and was there until 1973.He then began his career as a visiting researcher at United Nations in Geneva (Economic Commission for Europe) for the subject “ Measurement of regional disparities in urban and regional policy, documented by economic, social and environmental indicators” from 1974 till 1976.