Prof. Dr Petra Bendel

Chairperson of the Expert Council

Head of Research on Migration, Displacement and Integration, Institute of Political Science at the Friedrich-Alexander-Universität of Erlangen-Nürnberg

Petra Bendel is Professor of Political Science at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg. She heads Research on Migration, Displacement and Integration (MFI) at the Institute of Political Science and  is Project Lead of the “Forced Migration and Refugee Studies: Networking and Knowledge Transfer (FFVT)” collaborative research project. Petra Bendel is a Member of the Scientific Advisory Board at the Federal Office of Migration and Refugees (BAMF).

More information

Prof. Dr Daniel Thym

Deputy Chairperson of the Expert Council

Chair of Public, European and International Law at the University of Konstanz

Daniel Thym is Professor of Public, European and International Law at the University of Konstanz and Director of the University’s Research Centre for Immigration & Asylum Law (FZAA). His work focuses on German, European and international immigration and refugee law, nationality and citizenship, integration and social cohesion, and the protection of basic rights in Germany and Europe. Daniel Thym is a member of the “The Politics of Inequality” Cluster of Excellence at the University of Konstanz, he represents the University of Konstanz in the national Research Institute for Social Cohesion (FGZ) and is regularly invited to participate as an expert in the hearings of the German Bundestag Committee on Internal Affairs and Community.

More information

Prof. Dr Viola Georgi

Member of the Expert Council

The "Zentrum für Bildungsintegration. Diversity und Demokratie in Migrationsgesellschaften"

Viola B. Georgi is Professor of Diversity Education at the University of Hildesheim Foundation and Director of the Centre for Education Integration: Diversity and Democracy in Migration Societies. Her work focuses on, among other issues, diversity education, heterogeneity in schools, educational media, historical/political education in a migration society, democracy education and citizenship education. Viola B. Georgi acts in an advisory capacity in various expert committees and civil society organisations.

More information

Prof. Dr Marc Helbling

Member of the Expert Council

Department of Sociology and Mannheim Centre for European Social Research (MZES) of the University of Mannheim

Marc Helbling is Professor of Sociology at the University of Mannheim, specialising in Migration and Integration. His research focuses on migration and citizenship policy, xenophobia and Islamophobia, populist and extremist attitudes, the root causes of migration, and the integration of migrants. He is Associate Editor of the International Migration Review and of the Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies.

More information

Prof. Dr Birgit Leyendecker

Member of the Expert Council

Interdisciplinary Centre for Family Research at the Ruhr-Universität Bochum

Birgit Leyendecker was appointed Head of the Interdisciplinary Centre for Family Research (ICFR), part of the Faculty of Psychology at the Ruhr-Universität Bochum (RUB), in 2010. Her research focuses include the educational integration of (new) immigrant children and refugee children and families; families and gender diversity; the positive development of immigrant children and their families; and multilingualism. She is a member of the Advisory Board to the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth.

More information

Prof. Dr Steffen Mau

Member of the Expert Council

Department of Social Sciences at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin

Steffen Mau is Professor of Macrosociology at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, specialising in Social Change and Social Inequality. His work deals with the processes of transnationalisation, Europeanisation and globalisation. Steffen Mau currently heads international comparative projects on changes to border regimes and the debates around the inclusion and exclusion of migrants and refugees. He is a Member of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities (BBAW).

More information

Prof. Panu Poutvaara, PhD

Member of the Expert Council

ifo Center for International Institutional Comparisons and Migration Research

Panu Poutvaara is Professor of Economics at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (LMU Munich) and Director of the ifo Center for International Institutional Comparisons and Migration Research, ifo Institute. His research focuses include the impact of migration opportunities on human capital formation, family migration, populism, and the welfare effects of immigration.

More information

Prof. Dr Sieglinde Rosenberger

Member of the Expert Council

Professor of Political Science at the University of Vienna, Austria

Sieglinde Rosenberger is Professor of Political Science at the University of Vienna, Austria. Her research interests include integration, migration and asylum policy, policy at the intersection of religion and gender, the politicisation of migration, and protests against asylum and deportation policies.

More information

Prof. Dr Hans Vorländer

Member of the Expert Council

Institute of Political Science at the Technische Universität Dresden

Hans Vorländer is Director of the Mercator Forum on Migration and Democracy (MIDEM), founded in 2017, and of the Centre for the Study of Constitutionalism and Democracy at Technische Universität Dresden. From 1993 until 2020 he held the Chair of Political Theory and the History of Political Thought at Technische Universität Dresden. Hans Vorländer is an advisor in various expert commissions and is co-editor of the Zeitschrift für Politikwissenschaft. His work focuses on political theory, constitutionalism and constitution, democracy, populism, and migration and integration.

More information

Former members of the Expert Council:

Prof. Dr. Thomas K. Bauer
Member (2011–2019) and Chairman (2016–2019), Faculty of Management and Economics at the University of Bochum, RWI – Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Essen
Prof. Dr. Christine Langenfeld
Member (2008–2016) and Chairwoman (2012–2016), Department of Public Law at the University of Göttingen, Justice of Germany’s Federal Constitutional Court
Prof. Dr. Klaus. J. Bade
Member and Chairman (2008–2012), Institute for Migration Research and Intercultural Studies (IMIS) at the University of Osnabrück
Prof. Dr. Michael Bommes (†)
Institute for Migration Research and Intercultural Studies (IMIS) at the University of Osnabrück
Prof. Dr. Wilfried Bos
Center for Research on Education and School Development at the TU Dortmund
Prof. Dr. Gianni D'Amato
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Neuchâtel, Switzerland
Prof. Dr. Claudia Diehl
Faculty of Sociology at the University of Konstanz
Prof. Dr. Heinz Faßmann
Department of Geography and Regional Research at the University of Vienna
Prof. Dr. Christian Joppke
Institute of Sociology at the University of Bern
Prof. Dr. Yasemin Karakaşoğlu
Faculty of Pedagogy and Educational Sciences at the University of Bremen
Prof. Dr. Ursula Neumann
Faculty of Education at the University of Hamburg
Prof. Dr. Ludger Pries
Faculty of Social Science at the University of Bochum
Prof. Dr. Werner Schiffauer
Faculty of Social and Cultural Sciences at the European University Viadrina, Frankfurt (Oder)
Prof. Dr. Thomas Straubhaar
Faculty of Business, Economics and Social Sciences at the University of Hamburg
Prof. Dr. Hacı Halil Uslucan
Zentrum für Türkeistudien und Integrationsforschung at the University of Duisburg-Essen
Prof. Dr. Steven Vertovec
Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology and The Ethnographic Collection at the University of Göttingen, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity, Göttingen