Monika Jungbauer-Gans

Monika Jungbauer-Gans is Professor of Sociology at Leibniz University Hannover and holds a Professorship for Empirical Higher Education and Science Studies at the German Centre for Higher Education Research and Science Studies (DZHW). She serves as Scientific Director of the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) at DIW Berlin, overseeing Germany's premier longitudinal household survey tracking socioeconomic dynamics since 1984.

Her research spans Sociology, Higher Education Systems, and Science Policy, with emphasis on educational trajectories, labor market inequalities, and empirical analysis of scientific institutions. She leverages large-scale panel data from SOEP to investigate family dynamics, policy impacts, and social stratification through rigorous quantitative methodologies.

As leader of the SOEP infrastructure, she directs a critical research platform used by thousands of scholars globally, driving innovations in survey design and data dissemination. Her work bridges academic sociology with practical policy analysis through collaborations between DIW Berlin, DZHW, and Leibniz University Hannover.