Federal Institute for Population Research (BiB)

The Federal Institute for Population Research (BiB) investigates the causes and consequences of demographic change.In an advisory capacity, the BiB is in contact with the federal government and federal ministries and advises them on the basis of scientific research. As part of the advisory cooperation, the BiB supports the Federal Government in international cooperation on population issues within the framework of the United Nations. Informing the public about demographic change and the Institute’s research findings is another important task. The Institute was founded in 1973 and is since then is based in Wiesbaden, Hesse.

As part of the advisory cooperation, the BiB supports the Federal Government in international cooperation on population issues within the framework of the United Nations.Informing the public about demographic change and the Institute’s research findings is another central task.

The Institute is a federal departmental research institution and is part of the portfolio of the Federal Ministry of the Interior and Home Affairs.

Important works and tasks:

  • Research: Research is a central task at the BiB. It is the basis for sound advice and information. One of its core tasks is the continuous monitoring of demographic trends. Other areas of focus include the three research areas of family and fertility, migration and mobility, and demographic change and ageing. In addition, the Education and Human Capital research group, which was newly formed in 2021, investigates the importance of education for population development in Germany. One example of this is the study “Why children from potentially disadvantaged families are less likely to attend daycare – even if they need it” which was conducted on behalf of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation.
  • Policy advice: On the basis of the institute’s own research findings, the institute advises the federal government and federal ministries. Information, interpretation of demographic trends and the preparation of scientific expertise represent core competencies in policy advice. At the level of international cooperation within the framework of the United Nations, the BiB advises and supports the federal government on population issues.
  • Information: The BiB publishes the results of its research in numerous publications. In more than 430 charts, maps and tables, the BiB regularly publishes information on demographic facts for Germany, Europe and the world.

ifo Education Survey

The ifo Education Survey was developed by the ifo Center for the Economics of Education as part of the project “The political economy of education policy: Insights from an opinion survey” funded by the Leibniz Association. The ifo Education Survey is based on an annual public opinion survey of over 4,000 individuals who constitute a representative sample of Germany’s adult population.

The results of the ifo Education Survey in can be found on the website of ifo Institute.

Personality and Education Effects (PEB)

The project aimed to prepare a concept for the description of non-monetary return on education for the education report of the federal government on the basis of theoretical and empirical approaches. The subproject „Personality and education effects“ examined to what extent education variables predict personality changes in childhood and adolescence and whether these effects are independent of the students’ cognitive competences or whether the cognitive competences have an effect on personality beyond the influence of education. Furthermore the subproject investigated whether adults’ level of competence and (previous) participation in education determines personality pattern and changes. Additionally, interaction effects of personality and competences on outcome variables (e.g. life satisfaction) were examined. The central data sources are the National Educational Panel Study (NEPS), the Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) and especially the additional national longitudinal study PIAAC-L.

WZB Berlin Social Science Center

The WZB Berlin Social Science Center conducts basic research with a focus on problems of modern societies in a globalized world. Around 160 German and international researchers work at the WZB, including sociologists, political scientists, economists, legal scholars, and historians. They study developments, problems, and opportunities for innovation in modern societies. Their research is theory-based, problem-oriented, often long-term and mostly based on international comparisons. The research areas are: education, work and life chances, markets and choice, society and economic dynamics, international politics and law, dynamics of political systems, migration and diversity.

One research focus at the WZB is sociological education research on vocational training and continuing education. Research devoted to these topics is primarily performed at the research unit “Skill Formation and Labor Markets” (Director: Prof. Dr. Heike Solga) and the WZB-based project group “National Educational Panel Study: Vocational Training and Lifelong Learning” (Head: Prof. Dr. Reinhard Pollak). The WZB makes theoretical and empirical contributions to improving the German education systems, fighting educational deprivation, and smoothing the transition from school to work. All of this involves international comparisons. An important focus of education research at the WZB is the relation between education, labor market, and social policy.

Important Research Projects:

  • The project group “National Educational Panel Study” at the Social Science Research Center (WZB) is involved in Stage 6 (Vocational Training and Transition to the Labor Market) and Stage 8 (Adult Education and Lifelong Learning) of the German National Educational Panel Study. 
  • In cooperation with various Leibniz institutes, the “College for interdisciplinary Education Research” (CIDER) offers the opportunity of interdisciplinary career advancement to 30 junior scientists in educational science, psychology, economics, and sociology during their early post-doctoral stage.
  • The WZB is a partner and patron of the „Berlin Interdisciplinary Education Research Network“ (BIEN) and of the Berlin Network of Labor Market Research (BeNA). 
  • The institute publishes the “WZBrief Bildung”. The „WZBrief Bildung“ provides concise up-to-date information about a given topic from their educational research. It is published several times a year in electronic form. It is geared towards experts and specialists working in politics, schools, organizations and the media. The authors of the „WZBrief Bildung“ are scientists conducting research on issues surrounding education and training.
  • In cooperation with the German Federal Agency for Civic Education, the WZB publishes the „Zukunft Bildung“ dossier (“The future of education”). Using texts, videos, and graphics, the dossier makes current educational policy debates and research results from various disciplines accessible to a broad, non-academic audience.  

University of Luxembourg

At the associated partner “University of Luxembourg” is the research group „Educational Processes in Contemporary Societies“ consisting of members from two Institutes devoted to educational research. It connects social scientific perspectives on education and learning processes (educational theory, philosophy, history, and sociology). The main focus is on educational policies, systems, and processes within particular cultural, political, and socio-economic contexts. Thus, particular importance is placed on historical, cross-national, and international perspectives. Objects of study, whether in quantitative or qualitative or historical and institutional analyses, are education policies, system development, learning processes and teaching, and learning within and outside educational organizations.

Activities:

The activities of the research group include editing journals and book series, contributing to national education reports (Germany, Luxembourg), organizing international conferences, evaluation and consulting in a range of countries and advisory board membership.

RWI – Leibniz Institute for Economic Research

The RWI – Leibniz Institute for Economic Research is an independent and non-profit center for excellent economic research and evidence-based policy advice in Germany. The research work of the RWI is based on the latest theoretical concepts and state-of-the-art empirical methods and ranges from the individual to the level of the global economy. The institute spans five areas of competence: “Labor Markets, Education, Population”, “Health Economics”, “Climate Change and Development”, “Environment and Resources ‘ and “Macroeconomics and Public Finance”. The research groups “Micro Structure of Taxes and Transfers” and “Prosocial Behavior” complete the research profile. The “Research Data Center Ruhr at RWI” (FDZ Ruhr) provides data services and engages in research on regional disparities.arch on regional disparities.

Important work and services:

  • RWI analyses the determinants of educational decisions and returns to education. In this research area, the particular focus of research is on higher education, training (vocational ecuation, lifelong learning) and the impact of education on labor market outcomes. 
  • RWI assesses the causal impact of reforms and policy measures in the educational sector in Germany and low-income countries. 
  • The institute conducts policy studies on the economics of education for public sector clients, such as ministries, the German Federal Employment Agency and the GIZ (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit). 
  • RWI designs individual and company surveys and is involved in data collection. For example, RWI, together with the Institute for Employment Research (IAB), the German Institute for Adult Education – Leibniz Centre for Lifelong Learning (DIE) and infas – Institute for Applied Social Sciences, established a longitudinal linked-employer-employee dataset on lifelong learning. Data are available for secondary use. More information.

ifo Institute – Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich

The ifo Institute is one of the leading economic research institutes in Europe and at the same time the one most often quoted in the German media. Ifo conducts international high-quality research and intensively promotes junior researchers in economics. Ifo is member of the Leibniz Association and it co-operates closely with the University of Munich (LMU) within the CESifo Group. The ifo Institute is a European think tank that forms a bridge between academic research and public discourse. It focuses on applied economic research with clear policy implications with a view to achieving greater stability, prosperity and cohesion for Europe and the world. As one of the centers of the ifo Institute, the ifo Center for the Economics of Education focuses on the investigation of determinants and consequences of education.

Important work and services:

The ifo Center for the Economics of Education works particularly in the following areas:
  • The center investigates current issues in the area of economics of education and makes the research results available to the community of researchers as well as to policy-makers and the general public.
  • The center’s research results contribute to policy advice and the economic-policy debate in Germany and Europe.
  • Based on international surveys conducted by the OECD like PISA and PIAAC, the center promotes the scientific investigation of student achievement and adult competencies in Germany and other countries.
  • By evaluating policies with (quasi-) experimental methods, the center aims to bring evidence-based policy advice into the political decision-making process.
  • The center provides the ifo Prussian Economic History Database (iPEHD), a database for micro-regional empirical research in economic history in particular in the areas of education and innovation.
  • The Economics & Business Data Center (EBDC) is a combined platform for empirical research in business administration and economics of the Ludwig–Maximilian University of Munich (LMU) and the ifo Institute. It aims to open up new fields for empirical research in business administration and economics. The EBDC provides innovative datasets on German companies, featuring both survey data collected by the ifo Institute and external balance sheet data.
  • The center is concerned with efficiency and equity in education. It examines the quasi-experimental evidence of school reforms in the federal states (EffEE).
  • The ifo Education Survey is an annual opinion survey of more than 4,000 respondents. The Education Survey was developed by the ifo Center for the Economics of Education as part of the SAW project “The Political Economy of Education Policy: Insights from an Opinion Survey”, which is funded by the Leibniz Association.

Leibniz Institute of Agricultural Development in Transition Economies (IAMO)

The associated partner “Leibniz Institute of Agricultural Development in Transition Economies (IAMO)” analyses economic, social, and political processes of change in the agricultural and food sector and in rural areas. The geographic focus covers the enlarging EU, transition regions of Central, Eastern, and South Eastern Europe, as well as Central and Eastern Asia.

Scope of work

  • Research: IAMO is an international institute that pursues basic and applied research in the field of agricultural economics. It analyses the political, external environment of agriculture and its scope of design, the agricultural and food sector markets, and the structural development of enterprises and living conditions in rural areas. As education, health, nutrition, and social security of the rural population are core elements of rural living conditions these topics are part of IAMO’s research profile. Results support design and evaluation of integrated rural development strategies which comprise education health, nutrition, and social policies. Moreover, it embraces the interdependencies of market processes, managerial decisions and policies on the socioeconomic situation and environment and rural areas.
  • Scientific exchange: The institute is distributing its research outcomes to the international academic community as well as to decision-makers in politics and business, international organisations and the broad public. It acts as a forum of exchange, thereby promoting the linking up of research at an international level, and dialogue between leaders from the academic world, politics and business. In view of the immense and new challenges ahead, science-based policy advice is becoming an increasingly important factor in the institute’s work.
  • Promotion of young researchers: Among the institute’s core tasks is also the qualification of academic scholars from Germany and abroad. A particular focus lies on the promotion of scientists from study regions. IAMO supports PhD and postdoctoral studies and hands out thesis topics for Master’s or Bachelor’s degrees. IAMO Graduate School provides PhD students with systematic support and training. Visiting stays at IAMO and research visits of IAMO doctoral candidates and postdocs at overseas research centres enhance profiling younger scientists.

Institute for Employment Research (IAB)

The Institute for Employment Research (IAB) is a special office of the Federal Employment Agency (BA). The IAB conducts research on the labour market in order to advise political actors at all levels.

The research of the IAB focuses on labour market policy, regional and international labour markets, macroeconomic labour market research, establishments in the labour market, and life chances and social inquality.

A large part of the institute‘s findings is based on own comprehensive surveys of establishments, individuals and households along with process data from the Federal Employment Agency. IAB is a leader in developing new methods of surveying, linking and processing data. External researchers as well have access to quality-assured sets of innovative micro data that have been prepared for scientific analysis through the Research Data Centre (FDZ) of the Federal Employment Agency at IAB.

Important Work and Services:

  • The IAB investigates current issues in the area of economics and sociology of education and makes the research results available to the community of researchers as well as to the general public.
  • Based on its research results, the IAB contributes to the decision and legislative procedures in the field of labour market policy.
  • With its own surveys as well as with the process data from the BA the IAB provides important datasets, which can be used as the basis for studies in a wide range of scientific disciplines.

GESIS – Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences

As the largest German infrastructure institute for the social sciences, GESIS – Leibniz-Institute for the Social Sciences, with its expertise and services, stands ready to support researchers on the basis of the newest scientific methods, high quality data and research information.

Research projects generally go through a process with several phases – the research data cycle. Therefore, the services offered by GESIS-Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences are structured along a four-phase research data cycle, as follows:

  • Plan studies & collect data
  • Finding & retrieving data
  • Prepare & analyze data
  • Archive & share

GESIS offers consulting and practice-oriented guidance for each phase.
In the first phase, for example, GESIS experts advise on the collection of survey data and digital behavioral data. Researchers are supported in the development of an adequate project design and the quality assurance of the implementation.
The second phase, Find & Retrieve Data, enables researchers to find the appropriate data for secondary analysis. For this purpose, more than 6500 national and international studies are available in the GESIS data archive.
The preparation of data is also an essential step on the way to their analysis. Therefore, in the third phase Prepare & Analyze Data, GESIS supports the modification, linking, and analysis of data.
In the fourth phase, Archive & Share, GESIS promotes scientific transparency in line with the FAIR principles: F(indable) A(ccessible) I(nteroperable) and R(e-usable).
At GESIS, researchers can find repositories and services to archive, register, and share their data and publications over the long term.

The services offered for the research process are based on our own continuous and interdisciplinary research in the four areas of Survey Methodology, Research Data Management, Current Societal Issues, and Applied Informatics, as well as within their intersections.

Data Archive for the Social Sciences (DAS)
The department Data Archive for the Social Sciences (DAS) is Germany’s central infrastructure for the registration, documentation and digital archiving of quantitative research data which can be used to analyze societal developments from a national, internationally comparative or historical perspective.

Research Data Center
The Research Data Centers (RDC) at GESIS offer a special service for a number of survey programs for which GESIS partially participate in the data collection or permanently take over the tasks of data processing, archiving and delivery

One of GESIS’ most important research areas is education research. GESIS is involved in significant German, European, and international projects: Within PIAAC, GESIS is part of the PIAAC Consortium, which is the board responsible for planning and controlling. GESIS is also responsible for the German project management. An enhancement is PIAAC-L, a project that is implemented together with LIfBi and SOEP. It is the first internationally comparable long-term study worldwide for competencies in adulthood. Further selected GESIS projects within the area of educational research are:

  • CIDER – College for Interdisciplinary Education Research for the support of talented junior researchers in interdisciplinary context
  • Feasibility study for the Baden-Württemberg-Panel to generate progress data on the transfer from education at school and vocational training
  • CAMCES – Computer-Assisted Measurement and Coding of Educational Qualifications in surveys to make the internationally greatly varying survey tools for education comparable in survey data.