Studies: Education, Mathematics, Economics, Universities of Regensburg and Bielefeld.
Degrees: PhD, University of Bielefeld, 1989; Habilitation, Johann Wolfgang Goethe University Frankfurt, 1996.
Current Position: Professor for Social Policy and Public Economy at the Ruhr-University of Bochum.
Past Positions: Research Associate, Collaborative Research Center 3 "Microanalytic Foundations of Social Policy", Project "Microsimulation"; Research Associate, Department of Economics, Johann Wolfgang Goethe University Frankfurt; Professorship for Finance, Humboldt University Berlin; Center for Social Policy, University of Bremen
Main Areas of Research: General issues of social policy, particularly the household economy and family policy, as well as health economics und public health.
Other activities: Various projects in the areas of poverty research, social reporting and family policy; Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board for Family Matters of the Federal Ministry of Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women, and Youth (BMFSFJ); Prorector for Teaching, Further Education und Media, Ruhr-University Bochum, 2002-2006; Member of advisory boards of various research institutions (such as Federal Institute for Population Research and German Youth Institute); Consultant for research funding institutions (such as the DFG and the Swiss National Science Foundation); member of the executive board of scientific associations (such as the German Society for Demography) and member of the Committee for Research Buildings of the German Council of Science and Humanities (Wissenschaftsrat).
