News and Press Releases

The MPIfG’s Journalist in Residence between June and August 2026 is Kia Vahland, an editor with Süddeutsche Zeitung. During her stay at the MPIfG she will be working on how German cities are responding to the ecological, social, and political challenges of climate change in international comparison. more

For The Game: The Economy of Undocumented Migration from Afghanistan to Europe Hannah Pool has recently been awarded the Alice Amsden Best Book Award 2026. With the award, the Society for the Advancement of Socio-Economics (SASE) honors scholarly books that bring innovative perspectives and fresh theoretical or methodological approaches to socioeconomic research.  more

Former MPIfG researcher Clara Baumann was recently honored with the Albert Ballin Award for Globalization Research for her doctoral dissertation, “‘Return of Dependency’ or ‘A New Hope’? East-South Investment and Interdependent Development in Colombia.” The award was presented to her during the third Albert Ballin Forum in Hamburg on May 12 this year. more

Franziska Wiest successfully defended her doctoral dissertation. In “Umkämpftes Vermögen: Patrimoniale Verhältnisse in superreichen Familien” she explores how super-rich families pass down, organize, and legitimize their wealth across generations – a field that has been difficult to access and therefore under-researched to date. more

MPIfG alum Lukas Haffert took up his post as Professor of Comparative Politics at the SOCIUM Research Center on Inequality and Social Policy of the University of Bremen on April 1, 2026. more

The MPIfG recently hosted the “Fourth Doctoral Conference on the Social and Political Constitution of the Economy,” welcoming over 30 doctoral researchers from nine countries. The event was organized by members of the International Max Planck Research School on the Social and Political Constitution of the Economy (IMPRS-SPCE), the MPIfG’s joint graduate school with the University of Cologne and the University of Duisburg-Essen. more

Jens Beckert will join the School of Social Science at the Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) in Princeton for a year beginning in September. He is one of 21 scholars selected for the 2026/27 academic year from a pool of more than 600 applicants. more