Sarah Berens

Prof. Dr. Sarah Berens is a Professor for Global Social Policy at the University of Bremen, leading the Global Social Policy working group at SOCIUM Research Center. She previously held positions at the University of Innsbruck and conducted research at institutions including Duke University and the Max Planck Institute. Her research focuses on comparative political economy, development politics, and the microfoundations of social policy in developing economies, particularly addressing informal economies, migration, and violence's impact on political behavior. She has been awarded the Seligson Prize 2021 for work using LAPOP’s AmericasBarometer data.

Education:

• Doctoral training: International Max Planck Research School on the Social and Political Constitution of the Economy (IMPRS-SPCE), Max Planck Institute & University of Cologne

Key Research Themes:

Her work examines how crime, emigration, and economic vulnerability shape policy preferences in Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa, and other developing regions. She employs innovative survey experiments and field studies, such as a randomized public opinion survey in São Paulo and a conjoint experiment in Haiti.

Grants & Projects:

• DFG-funded project B03 (Varieties of Economic Vulnerability)
• TWF-funded project on violence’s impact on preferences in Mexico
• LAPOP collaboration on labor informality measurement

Labs/Teams:

Leads the Global Social Policy group at SOCIUM, collaborating with institutions like Vanderbilt University and Cornell University. Supervises PhD projects on transatlantic welfare state development and taxation in globalized economies.