Prof. Dr. Petra Bendel

Chairperson of the Expert Council

Center for Area Studies at the Friedrich-Alexander-Universität of Erlangen-Nürnberg

Petra Bendel is Professor of Political Science and Academic Director of the Centre for Area Studies at the Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg. Her fields of expertise include the European and German refugee and asylum system as well as integration policy at various political levels. Petra Bendel is Chair of the Advisory Council of the Federal Office of Migration and Refugees (BAMF), a Member of the Federal Government’s Expert Commission on the Framework Conditions for Integration and an advisor for various expert committees.

Prof. Dr. Daniel Thym

Deputy Chairperson of the Expert Council

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

Prof. Dr. 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, issues related to citizenship and integration, the development of the European Union, as well as basic legal protection in Germany and Europe. He is a key researcher in the “Cultural Principles of Integration” Cluster of Excellence at the University of Konstanz. Prof. Dr. Thym is regularly called to speak as an expert at hearings of the Committee on Internal Affairs of the German Bundestag, he represents the University of Konstanz in the Research Institute for Social Cohesion and is a Member of the Federal Government’s Expert Commission on the Framework Conditions for Integration.

Prof. Dr. Viola Georgi

Member of the Expert Council

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

Viola B. Georgi is Professor for Diversity Education at the University of Hildesheim Foundation and Director of the “Zentrum für Bildungsintegration. Diversity und Demokratie in Migrationsgesellschaften” (Centre for Education Integration. Diversity and Democracy in Migration Societies). Her work focuses on, among other issues, diversity, education, heterogeneity in school, educational media, historical-political education in the migration society, democracy education and citizenship education. Viola Georgi is involved as an advisor in various expert committees and civil society organisations and a Member of the Federal Government’s Expert Commission on the Framework Conditions for Integration.

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

More information about Prof. Dr. Marc Helbling coming up soon.

Photo: Tristan Vostry

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.

Prof. Dr. Steffen Mau

Member of the Expert Council

Department of Social Sciences at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin

More information on Prof. Dr. Steffen Mau coming up soon.

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.

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.

Prof. Dr. Hans Vorländer

Member of the Expert Council

Institute of Political Science at the Technische Universität Dresden

Hans Vorländer holds the Chair for Political Theory and the History of Political Thought at the Technische Universität Dresden. He is founder and director of the Center for the Study of Constitutionalism and Democracy and of the Mercator Forum on Migration and Democracy at the Technische Universität Dresden. Prof. Vorländer is a Member of the Federal Government’s Expert Commission on the Framework Conditions for Integration.