Petra Bendel

Petra Bendel is Professor of Political Science at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nuremberg (FAU), where she serves as Academic Director of the Central Institute for Regional Research and Deputy Director of FAU's Center for Human Rights Erlangen-Nuremberg (CHREH). She holds influential policy positions including Chair of the Expert Council of German Foundations on Integration and Migration (SVR), Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF), and Member of the German Federal Government's expert commission on "Framework Conditions and Capacity for Integration."

Her research focuses on EU asylum and refugee policy, German refugee policy at national and local levels, integration policy, and human rights of refugees and migrants. Bendel examines migration governance through multiple political levels, analyzing tensions between EU policy frameworks and their human rights implications. Her work often addresses the practical implementation challenges of migration policies in diverse political contexts.

Analysis of Bendel's publication record reveals consistent scholarly contribution since the 1990s, with recent work increasingly focused on pandemic impacts on migration systems, municipal-level integration approaches, and sustainable solutions for displacement. Her research bridges academic analysis with practical policy recommendations, particularly regarding EU burden-sharing mechanisms and local implementation of integration policies.

Bendel leads multiple research projects examining displacement, migration, and integration across political levels. Her institutional leadership positions demonstrate significant influence in shaping German and European migration policy discourse. The empirical focus on 92 municipalities across 12 German states in her 2020 work "Zwei Welten? Integrationspolitik in Stadt und Land" exemplifies her commitment to evidence-based policy analysis.