Martin Kagel's research and teaching interests include German literature and culture from the 18th through the 21st-century. He has worked extensively on the aesthetics of Jakob Michael Reinhold Lenz, the literary politics of Johann Gottfried Seume, Rolf Dieter Brinkmann's poetry, and the writings of Hungarian-German-Jewish author George Tabori. In addition, he has published articles and book chapters on topics such as 20th-century philosophy of history (Karl Löwith), technology (Günther Anders), and the environment (Ludwig Klages), contemporary landscape design, gender and authorship, the 18th-century culture of friendship, and the connection between 18th-century German literati and the military. Kagel has been a Lilly Teaching Fellow and has received the Sandy Beaver Award for Excellence in Teaching and the Richard B. Russell Undergraduate Teaching Award. He is also a member of the University of Georgia Teaching Academy.