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Faculty of Social Sciences, Economics, and Business Administration

Junior Professorship for Sociology, especially Work and Health

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Research Projects

Here you will find information about research projects at the Junior Professorship for Sociology, especially Work and Health.

Fields of Education as New Drivers of Health Inequalities (FIELDS)

Project sponsor: European Research Council

Duration: 2027 - 2032 

The project FIELDS is funded with a ERC Starting Grant and investigates the relationship between fields of education, such as study majors and vocational training programmes, and physical and mental health over the life course. Moving beyond the well-established educational gradient in health, the project examines how educational fields contribute to health inequalities within educational levels.

FIELDS uses longitudinal data from six major household panel studies from Germany (SOEP), the United States (PSID), the Netherlands (LISS), Switzerland (SHP), South Korea (KLIPS), and Australia (HILDA), covering more than 2.3 million observations. A core component of the work responsibilities is the harmonisation of these data and their analysis using advanced longitudinal methods. 

Funding:  Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (BAuA)

Project Partners: infas Institute for Applied Social Science, Institute of Medical Sociology (Heinrich-Heine-University Düsseldorf), Institute and Policlinic of Occupational and Social Medicine (University of Technology Dresden)

Duration: 2025 - 2028

Despite medical advancements, improved hygiene and health and safety measures in the workplace, infectious diseases continue to have a significant impact on health and the economy. The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated this impressively. At the same time, there has been comparatively little research on how risks of infection are distributed in modern working environments and which groups of employees are particularly affected. The aim of the project is to identify and systematically investigate occupational inequalities in the risk of infection among the German working population based on longitudinal data from the German National Cohort (NAKO Gesundheitsstudie). The focus is on risk groups that have received little attention to date, as well as social differences in the occurrence of infections. The analysis covers upper and lower respiratory tract infections, gastrointestinal infections, and selected rarer diseases such as tuberculosis, HIV, and hepatitis B or C. The results are meant to make an important contribution to the continued development of occupational infection protection and to identify courses of action for preventive measures.