- Research Interests / Functions (selection)
- Academic Positions / Education
- Funded Research Projects (selection; last five years)
- Selected Professional Service
Research Interests:
Developmental and educational psychology; mechanisms in child development; developmental diagnosis, promotion, intervention. Main focus: development of competencies; interrelations between language, cognition, and socio-emotional development; influencing conditions and social disparities.
Functions:
2012-2022 Coordinator of the DFG-Priority Programme 1646 “Education as a lifelong process”; interdisciplinary, nationwide programme; together with H.-P. Blossfeld
2018/2019 Scientific Head of the National Educational Panel Study NEPS (as director of the LIfBi); nationwide, interdisciplinary large-scale project (multi-cohort sequence design)
since 2009 Scientific Head of the Infant Cohort Study of the NEPS
2009-2013 Vice Manager of the National Educational Panel Study (NEPS); coordinator of the pillar “Competence development over the life span” and the early educational stages (funded by BMBF)
2005-2013 PI of the interdisciplinary DFG-research unit “Educational processes, competence development, and formation of selection decisions in preschool and school age” (BiKS); PI (together with colleagues); PI and/or co-coordinator of several subprojects (funded by DFG)
2009-2012 Coordinator of the BMBF Research Initiative on Language Diagnostics and Language Promotion (FiSS); interdisciplinary, nationwide programme; together with A. Redder
Academic Positions:
2018-2019 Director (interim) of the Leibniz Institute for Educational Trajectories (LIfBi), Bamberg, Germany
2011-2019 Managing Director of the Institute of Psychology, University of Bamberg, Germany
since 2003 Head of the Bamberg Baby Institute (BamBI) for studying early child development, University of Bamberg, Germany
since 2002 Full Professor (C4), Developmental Psychology, University of Bamberg, Germany
2000-2001 Professor (C3), Developmental and Educational Psychology, University of Erfurt, Germany
1999-2000 Professor (C2), Developmental Psychology, University of Münster, Germany
1998-1999 Deputy Professorship of Psychology, University of Bielefeld, Germany
1985-1997 Research Scientist in Developmental Psychology, University of Bielefeld, Germany
Education:
1998 Habilitation, venia legendi: Psychology (University of Bielefeld, Germany)
1990 PhD, Psychology (‘with excellence’, University of Bielefeld, Germany)
1985 Diploma, Psychology (‘with excellence’, University of Bochum, Germany)
2020-2022 EarlyMath: Mathematical development and the impact of interaction quality in early childcare (funded by DFG); together with H.-G. Roßbach, D. Dornheim, S. Lehrl, A. Linberg
2019-2022 DICE: The Development of Inequalities in Child Educational Achievement: a six country study (funded by ORA/DFG); together with international partners from six countries (other PIs: R. Keizer [NL]; T. Schneider [GE]; A. Solaz [FR], E. Washbrook/J. Waldfogel [GB/USA]; H. Akabayashi [JP])
2018-2021 SEED: Social InEquality and its Effects on Child Development: A study of birth cohorts in the UK, Germany, and the Netherlands (funded by EU-NORFACE/DFG); together with partners from the UK, Germany, and the Netherlands
2019-2022 & 2012-2018 VIVA/ViVAplus: Video-based validity analyses of measures of early childhood competencies and home learning environment (funded by DFG); together with H.-G. Roßbach
2016-2021 & 2021-2025 BRISE: Bremen Initiative to foster early childhood development (funded by BMBF); together with colleagues from IPN, DIPF, DIW, MPI for Empirical Educational Research and Universities of Bremen and of Heidelberg
2012-2022 Coordination project of the priority programme 1646 “Education as a lifelong process” (funded by DFG); together with H.-P. Blossfeld
2019-2021 BiKSplus [3-18] (funded by BMBF); longitudinal extension of the BiKSplus 3-13 study; together with H.-G. Roßbach
2014-2017 BiKSplus [3-13] (funded by DFG); longitudinal extension of the BiKS 3-10 study; together with H.-G. Roßbach
2017-2019 & 2010-2016 BiSpra-Transfer: Development and validation of a test instrument (funded by BMBF); together with P. Stanat. B. Heppt & BiSpra: Academic language proficiency: Language demands, language processing, and diagnostics (funded by BMBF); together with P. Stanat, A. Redder
2019 EarlyEd: Leibniz-Centre “Early education”
Co-applicant and consortium partner of the “Bamberg Graduate School of the Social Sciences” (BAGSS); funded by the excellence initiative of the German government and federal states (2012-2019) as well as of the BMBF project WegE – Pioneering Teacher Education (2016-2023)
since 2017 Elected Member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities
2007-2011 External Member of the University Council Würzburg
2001-2007 Member of the Senate and Grants Committee on Research Training Groups (German Research Foundation DFG)
Ad hoc reviewer for several national and international scientific journals; external evaluator for national and international Research Foundations