Birgit Pfau-Effinger is Full Professor for Sociology and Co-Director of the Research Centre Globalisation and Governance of the University of Hamburg. She has been teaching at the Universities of Bremen/ Germany and Jena/ Germany and was visiting professor at the Universities of Aalborg/ Denmark and Tampere/ Finland and at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona/ Spain. Her special interests include theory and methods in the field of comparative sociology, the relationship of institutions and culture, social policy analyses, family policies and family development, gender arrangements, sociology of labour markets, the relationship of formal employment and informal work, and care for children and elderly people. She was Vice Chair of the European "Network Gender Inequality and the European Regions" (GIER) of the European Science Foundation, member of the Management Committee and Chair of the Gender Issues group of the COST A13 Action Programme "Changing Labour Markets, Welfare Policies and Citizenship" of the European Union, and Co-editor of "Work, Employment and Society".

She has received research grants by the EU and the DFG (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, German Research Foundation) and was coordinator of a EU 5th Framework research project on "Formal and informal work in Europe. A comparative analysis of their changing relationship and their impact on social integration" (FIWE) with seven research teams in six European countries. She is member of the Network of Excellence "Reconciling Work and Welfare in European Societies" in the 7th EU Framework Programme and has been appointed for membership in the Committee for Collaborative Research Programmes of the DFG since 1/2008. Her publications include 14 books and more than 90 academic articles in peer reviewed Journals and edited volumes.

On February 2nd Prof. Dr. Birgit Pfau-Effinger will give a lecture on "The role of migrant carers in different types of gender arrangement" in the context of the Seminar Series 'Family, Gender and the Welfare State' at the Institute for Social Policy, Oxford University.

Prof. Dr. Birgit Pfau-Effinger was appointed as Honorary Professor in Welfare State Research of the Southern University of Denmark 6/2011

Patricia Frericks, PhD, is advanced by the Fast Track Programme for the Elite of Young Scientists of the Robert Bosch Foundation (2009-2011). Click here to find additional information on the advancement of Patricia Frericks, PhD, by the Fast Track Programme. 

On March 24-25 2011 an International Expert Conference on "Re-forming Activation: a New Turn in Europe?" was held in the main building of the university. The conference attracted more than 70 visitors.