The 2014 prize awarded in the Humanities by the Schader Foundation goes to Professor Stephan Leibfried of the University of Bremen. The prize, which comes with 15,000 euros, is in recognition of Leibfried’s outstanding contribution to social scientific research on the Welfare State and the State, both within and outside Germany. Leibfried’s research work and public engagement has made an important contribution to resolving some of the pressing issues of modern society. One example among many inextricably associated with his name is the institutionalization of international comparative research on the Welfare State and the impact of his research on social policy, not least in Germany.
Always of pragmatic mind, Leibfried not only created many bridges between research and the practice, for instance a twelve-year research project on the dynamics of receiving social benefits (“Once you’re in, you’re always in”?) based on data obtained from the Bremen administration; and in the 2000s, again funded by the Volkswagen Foundation, with a guest program for “Journalists in Research” run jointly with the Cologne Max Plack Institute and the WZB Berlin, after this with an exchange program in science and practice (on the Welfare State) together with the London LSE, and currently with Oxford University (on transition of the state).
The Rector of the University of Bremen, Prof. Bernd Scholz-Reiter, commented: “This award for my colleague Leibfried once again demonstrates that the University of Bremen is home to outstanding personalities across all disciplines”: Leibfried has made an invaluable contribution towards making the Bremen Social Sciences as renowned as it is in Germany and abroad, by means of the many books published by prominent Anglo.American university publishers and articles in first-class international journals – but also by laying solid foundations for the acquisition of third-party funding and setting up research establishments. The Social Sciences and the Marine Sciences are the two supporting pillars of the Bremen University of Excellence. In 2001 Leibfried put all this on record in a special anniversary volume called “Lichtspuren”, a commentated “private” photo album covering the 40-year research history of the Social Sciences in Bremen.
For further reading:
You can obtain further information by contacting either of the following persons:
Schader-Stiftung
Peter Lonitz
Phone: +49 6151 175917
email: lonitzprotect me ?!schader-stiftungprotect me ?!.de
University of Bremen
Center for Social Policy
Prof.Dr. Stephan Leibfried
Phone: +49 421 218 56665
email: stlfprotect me ?!zes.uni-bremenprotect me ?!.de
