News and Press Releases

Sören Altstaedt and Franziska Wiest, both researchers at the MPIfG, received the Dissertation Award of the German Sociological Association (DGS), which recognizes outstanding doctoral dissertations in sociology. The prizes, each worth 1,000 euros, were conferred during the DGS General Assembly on September 30, 2026. more

Carola Westermeier has been appointed as Professor of Economic Sociology at Philipps University Marburg. In April 2025, she became leader of the Lise Meitner Research Group “Technology and Sovereignty” at the MPIfG, whose work lies at the intersection of economic sociology, international political economy, and critical security studies. more

Max Willems successfully defended his dissertation, “Pricing Power: The Political Economy of Renewable Energy Transitions in Europe,” at the University of Duisburg-Essen on October 2, 2026. In his study, he asks who wins and who loses from decarbonization, and why. more

On September 29, Pauline Kohlhase successfully defended her dissertation in political science at the University of Cologne’s Faculty of Management, Economics and Social Sciences. In “Gendering Growth Models: Care Formalization, Female Employment and Demand Formation,” she examines how the decline of the male breadwinner model, rising female employment, and the increasing formalization of care work since the 1990s have changed national growth models in advanced capitalist economies. more

In July of this year, Pálma Polyák and Erik Neimanns, both senior researchers in the Political Economy Research Area at the MPIfG, had their employment contracts extended indefinitely. The permanent positions offer the two researchers a long-term employment perspective and the opportunity to pursue a habilitation. more

On September 1, Camilla Locatelli left the MPIfG to take up a postdoc position at the University of Heidelberg’s Max Weber Institute of Sociology, where she is part of the ERC SOCDEBT project led by Nora Waitkus, Professor of Social Structure Analysis. In joining the project, Locatelli is expanding her research interests, which have focused to date on state fiscal policy and fiscal surveillance.  more

Erik Neimanns recently gave a talk at Cologne’s City Hall as part of “Science in City Hall” series organized by the Cologne Science Forum. In his talk, Neimanns presented a study coauthored with Antonella Faggin and funded by the German Institute for Interdisciplinary Social Policy Research (DIFIS) on the difficulties of accessing nursery and after-school childcare in Germany.  more