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Professor Philip Manow has accepted an offer from the University of Bremen.

Philip Manow will start his new position as a professor in the Political Science Department in October 2010. Together with Professor Stefan Traub he will head the Economics Department in the Centre for Social policy Research.

Philip Manow's research focusses on issues of political economy, the welfare state and political institutions. He has previously worked at the University of Heidelberg, the University of Konstanz and at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies in Cologne.

During his work for the Centre for Social Policy Research, Philip Manow will particularly examine the link between economic structural change, social policy, and party politics.

Contact:
Prof. Dr. Philip Manow

The German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft) will fund a project on "Paid work beyond retirement age in Germany and Britain", as part of the Emmy Noether programme for excellent young researchers.

Starting from October 2010, an independent junior research group lead by Simone Scherger will study the structures and conditions of paid employment among retirees, its biographical significance, and the collective discourses around old age, paid employment, old age provision and the welfare state.

Until now, paid employment in retirement has been an atypical combination of work, payments from a pension (or several pensions) and old age. This combination is counter to the assumed finality of retirement. The project aims at investigating the forms and conditions of paid employment in retirement in a perspective which compares Germany with Britain. The group will examine the incidence and structures of paid work in retirement, and the biographical constellations in the areas of work and family which lead to retirees engaging in paid work. Furthermore, the biographical significance of this form of work and the framing collective discourses around work, age and old age security will be studied. Comparing Germany and Britain sheds a light on the importance of the underlying welfare state regulations and traditions, and the combination of quantitative and qualitative methods will facilitate a dialogue between structure oriented and action oriented perspectives.

Further information: German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft): Emmy Noether Programme

Contact:
Prof. Dr. Karin Gottschall
SOCIUM Research Center on Inequality and Social Policy
Mary-Somerville-Straße 5
28359 Bremen
Phone: +49 421 218-58595
E-Mail: karin.gottschall@uni-bremen.de

Prof. Dr. Simone Scherger
SOCIUM Research Center on Inequality and Social Policy
Mary-Somerville-Straße 5
28359 Bremen
Phone: +49 421 218-58569
E-Mail: simone.scherger@uni-bremen.de

In April 2010 Professor Herbert Obinger takes up the position as ZeS spokesperson.

Herbert Obinger replaced Frank Nullmeier, who directed and represented the institute throughout the past three years with foresight and great commitment.

Herbert Obinger, the new spokesperson, has been a member of the ZeS since 1998. Together with Stephan Leibfried, the political scientist has been directing the department "Institutions and History of the Welfare State" since 2007.

Contact:
Prof. Dr. Herbert Obinger
SOCIUM Research Center on Inequality and Social Policy
Mary-Somerville-Straße 5
28359 Bremen
Phone: +49 421 218-58567
E-Mail: herbert.obinger@uni-bremen.de

During the winter semester of 2011/12, at the start of the exchange, faculty and students in Bremen were able to welcome the first student from Chapel Hill.

The Master Programme in Social Policy has been a member of a transatlantic student exchange programme since 2010. The Transatlantic Master Program (TAM), initiated by the renowned Center for European Studies at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, comprises a consortium of ten European universities. Together the Universities of Chapel Hill, Bremen, Pompeu Fabra/Barcelona and VU Amsterdam cooperate in a so-called 'research track'.

During the winter semester of 2011/12, at the start of the exchange, faculty and students in Bremen were able to welcome the first student from Chapel Hill. In 2012/2013 the programme featured its first guests, including the first female student seeking to complete a degree in Bremen. A new decisive innovation for the 2013/2014 academic year will allow for a transition to a double degree in TAM/Master Social Policy: students will spend one year in Chapel Hill and one year in Bremen. This is an intensive study program that includes a mandatory internship followed by mutual supervision while writing the master's thesis.

The opportunity to complete an interdisciplinary and European-oriented focus in the field of European Labour Studies is provided starting in the winter semester of 2010/2011 as part of the Master's Programme in Social Policy at the University of Bremen. These include supplementary courses abroad that are implemented in cooperation with foreign partner universities. Students studying at one of the partner universities obtain an international certification in the Master Européen en Sciences du Travail (MEST). With this certificate, acquired skills and competencies in the Master Programme in Social Policy will be expanded with the addition of an international profile.

More information: 
European Masters Labour Studies Network

Contact:
Dr. Simone R. Haasler

In October 2009 Professor Stefan Traub took over one of the two vacant directorate positions.

The main focus of work in the Economics Department is economic theories of justice and their impact on tax and benefit systems and social security systems, the development of old-age security in industrial states particularly in view of demographic change and globalisation, and the impact of privatisation policies on OECD countries.

Of particular importance is fundamental research in the area of economic distribution theory. To what extent are the axioms of normative distribution theory, for example the Lorentz axiomatic system, reflected in ideas of justice among the general populace? Norms of distribution will be empirically tested in terms of their level of acceptance. The role of individual and societal ideas of justice will be theoretically and empirically analysed by focusing on the development of tax and transfer systems and social protection systems, with a particular emphasis of pension schemes.

Contact:
Prof. Dr. Stefan Traub
Helmut Schmidt University Hamburg
Holstenhofweg 85
22043 Hamburg
Phone: +49 40 6541-2865
E-Mail: stefan.traub@hsu-hh.de

Christian Peters takes over parts of Gisela Hegemann-Mahltig’s areas of responsibility who completed her active employment as ZeS director in September 2009.

Christian Peters, a political scientist, was previously employed at the ZEIT-Foundation Ebelin and Gerd Bucerius in Hamburg - first as volunteer, then as research fellow in the fields of governance and science/research.

Among others, he was responsible for the organization and execution of the Bucerius Summer School on Global Governance, for Alumni activities, as well as for consultancy and assessment in the foundation's funding area.

After several intermediate stops, in Heidelberg, San Francisco, Hamburg and Berlin, Peters' university education led him to a French and German speaking Graduate School in Dresden and Paris where he received his PhD in the field of comparative political cultural research in January 2008.

Source: ZeS report, Vol. 14, No. 2, December 2009, p. 24

Contact:
Dr. Christian Peters

The Centre of Social Policy Research at the University of Bremen is one of the beacons of research in Bremen.

Internationally visible publications, successful integration into international research networks, a presence at international congresses, and an impressive third party funding balance all document the ZeS success story. In 2009 the Centre for Social Policy Research celebrated its 20th anniversary.

On October 14, 2009, Mayor Jens Böhrnsen invited members to a commemorative event at Bremen’s City Hall. After his opening address, welcome messages came from Professor Barbara Riedmüller (FU Berlin) and Professor Rolf Drechsler, Vice President for Research at the University of Bremen.

The ceremonial address was given by Professor Franz-Xaver Kaufmann, Emeritus Professor of Sociology at the University of Bielefeld and a dedicated and critical partner of the ZeS.

ZeS director completes her active employment at Bremen University.

Gisela Hegemann-Mahltig, director of the Centre for Social Policy Research (ZeS) at Bremen University, completed her active employment after more than 30 years on September 1st, 2009. Hegemann-Mahltig was fundamentally involved in the institute's establishment and acted as leading figure in its administration. Regine Metzentin became her successor.

In August 2009, the Centre for Social Policy Research took leave of Gisela Hegemann-Mahltig who acted as the institute's director since October 1988. Back then, the institute was still in its initial founding stage. Hegemann-Mahltig was born in Iserlohn in the German Sauerland region. After completing her studies in Sociology, supervised by Schelsky in Muenster as well as Luhmann and Kaufmann at Bielefeld University, and some further intermediate stops, she eventually came to the University of Bremen. When working at the Centre for Social Policy Research, she acted as head of all infrastructure units, as integration manager in the different departments, as initiator and chief editor of the ZeS report, as well as communicative centre of the entire institution. We all wish her the very best for her new and work-free phase of life.

Sources: 
ZeS report, Vol. 14, No. 2, December 2009, p. 7
Bremer Uni-Schlüssel (BUS), No. 109, October 2009, p. 10

Eight students have successfully graduated from the Master in Social Policy.

To congratulate these first graduates, the Centre for Social Policy Research organised a small celebration on Friday, 4 July 2008, in the “Barkhof”, the location of the Centre for Social Policy Research.

Frank Nullmeier, among other things the chairman of the commission for the Master in Social Policy, took a look back into the Master’s beginnings, which – even before successfully receiving accreditation in the beginning of 2005 – in the winter semester of 2004/05 started with five students. This advancing development, said Nullmeier, was a testament to the programme’s fundamental substance, although deficiencies needed to still be fully remedied. The number of students now stands at 60, thus showing the success of this programme. Looking ahead, admissions requirements must be expected; the number of applications far exceeds the number of available places.

More information: Master Social Policy: Objectives, requirements, organisation

Advisory board of the ZeS confirms outstanding success record.

Publications which are internationally visible, networks which are developed in international research, successful presentations at international conferences and an impressive record of third-party funds - all this (according to the advisory board of the Center for Social Policy Research) make the ZeS into one of the central institutions of the science location in Bremen. This successful record is characterized by the collaboration with the Collaborative Research Center "Transformations of the State" (CRC 597) and with the Bremen International Graduate School of Social Sciences (BIGSSS). This is complemented by multiple activities of the science transfer into the practice concerning social political affairs. Also the advancement of junior academics is positively accentuated.

From 29th to 30th May 2008 the ZeS was evaluated by the advisory board of the Center for Social Policy Research, a committee which is comprised of representatives of research and practical experts in social policy. It was its sixth evaluation in intervals of three years.

The evaluation was geared towards the ZeS as a "whole" as well as the work of the departments in particular. The department "Health Economics, Health Policy and Outcome Research" stands for special achievements in research as regards transfer. The projects on the topics "legitimation" and "organization" as well as theories on social democracy in social policy are the key features which characterize the work of the department "Theory and Constitution of the Welfare State". The choice of case studies and its focus, activation and professionalization is emphasized in the department "Gender Policy in the Welfare State". The department "Institutions and History of the Welfare State" shows the stringency and continuity of 20 years of research at the Zes.

As regards the comparatively low basic facilities of the ZeS, a critical tone is adopted. The advisory board demands a sustainable improvement of infrastructural facilities. Due to an increasing work-load of teaching and researching, while, at the same time, being committed to the development of new study courses, new opportunities of compensation should be created. For example, support in teaching, which could be done by substitutes as well as an improvement of the basic facilities.

The advisory board emphasized in a positive way that the departments of health and "Institutions and History of the Welfare State" were successful in finding a successor for the head of the department. However, the successor for the department of the economics department has yet to be found. (successor Winfried Schmähl).

The committee is comprised of representatives of research and practical experts in social policy:

• Prof. Dr. Jochen Clasen (University of Edinburgh)
• Prof. Dr. Eckhard Knappe (Trier University)
• Dr. Arnold Knigge (former council of state, Bremen)
• Prof. Dr. Barbara Riedmüller (Freie Universität Berlin)
• Prof. Dr. Franz Ruland (Verband Deutscher Rentenversicherungsträger e.V.) (the pension insurance association)
• Prof. Dr. Jürgen Wasem (Universität Duisburg-Essen)
• Prof. Dr. Annette Zimmer (University of Münster)