Social sustainability: towards adequate pensions

Professor Ebbinghaus discusses the imporantce of social sustainability in pension reforms at the conference Public pension systems: changing narratives, changing realities? at CEPS in Brussels on 23 March 2023. The High Level Event in cooperation with the Spanish Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration brings policy makers and experts together. In his intervention he considers implications of pension reforms based on his findings from a comparative analysis of poverty and inequality in old age across Europe. It is important to apply a life-course approach as adapted in the High-Level Group Report on the Future of Social Protection and the Welfare State in the EU published in February 2023. (See slides of presentation)

Wiener Polanyi Vortrag zu Resilienz des Sozialstaates nun als Video

Mein Vortrag zu “Die Resilienz des Sozialstaates als Gegenbewegung in Europas Wirtschaftskrisen” als Karl-Polanyi-Gastprofessor an der Universität Wien ist nun online as Video verfügbar. Aufzeichnung der ersten Stunde des Vortrag und dann der öffentliche Diksussion (Moderation: Prof. Kittel) in der Urania, Wien. Die Folien des Vortrages können als PDF heruntergeladen werden.

Professor Bernhard Ebbinghaus, Vortrag und Diskussion, Urania Wien, 18. Jan. 2023

Report on the Future of European welfare states

As member of the High-Level Group of the European Commission, Professor Ebbinghaus contributed to the report on the Future of Social Protection and the Welfare State in the EU, which was launched on 7 Feburary 2023 in Brussels. The expert group, chaired by former European Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities, Anna Diamantopoulou, looked at ways to reinforce social protection both at national and European levels to respond for instance to demographic change, the impact of new forms of work, and the digital and green transitions. Commissioner for Jobs and Social Rights, Nicolas Schmit, and the ministers from Belgium, Sweden, and Spain as well as other policymakers and stakeholders attended the conference to discuss the policy implications of the report. Professsor Ebbinghaus explained the recommendations on social protection for all and its funding on a panel, highlighting the need to close access gaps for those with flexible jobs and performing non-standard work, while also extending funding for the welfare state with a broader, fairer mix of revenue sources.

Nomination as Karl Polanyi Visiting Professor

In January 2023, Prof. Bernhard Ebbinghaus will be the fourth Karl Polanyi Visiting Professor at the University of Vienna. As kick-off, he will hold a public lecture (in German) on welfare state resilience as a countermovement in economic crises.  He will hold a Graduate Seminar at the University of Vienna and a workshop at the Central European University (CEU), both dealing with crisis reactions and adjustments of welfare states in Europe in the field of labour market and social policy.

Vacancy at Uni Mannheim: Assistant Professorship – Sociology of Welfare States

The School of Social Sciences of the University of Mannheim has a vacancy for an assistant professorship (Juniorprofessur, W1) in the areas of welfare state research from August 2023 for up to six years. Postdocs with research and teaching experience in comparative sociology, in particular the analysis of welfare states, are invited to apply by 24 November 2022. Teaching comprises German taught B.A. Soziologie (Aufbaumodul „Europäische Gesellschaften“) and English taught M.A. Sociology. Close cooperation with the Chair of Macrosociology, Prof. Ebbinghaus, and research at the Mannheim Centre for European Social Research (MZES) are expected. More information (in German): PDF

Prof Ebbinghaus returning to University of Mannheim

Since January 2022, Bernhard Ebbinghaus is Professor of Sociology in the School of Social Sciences at University of Mannheim, Germany. After five years at University of Oxford, he returns to the Chair of Macrosociology teaching comparative sociology in the Mannheim sociology (BA, MA, PhD) programmes and he continues his research on the reforms of European welfare states, facilitated by the Mannheim Centre for European Social Research (MZES)

During his five years at Oxford, he was Professor of Social Policy and Senior Research Fellow of Green Templeton College at University of Oxford from January 2017 until December 2022. From October 2017 until December 2020, Prof Ebbinghaus was Head of the Department of Social Policy and Intervention (DSPI) at University of Oxford. In addition, he is currently Associate Member of Nuffield College, University of Oxford.

He has been visiting Mercator Fellow (2018-21) at the Collaborative Research Centre (SFB 884) Political Economy of Reform and MZES External Fellow, University of Mannheim. In 2021 Prof Ebbinghaus was on sabbatical, working on the projects at University of Mannheim and visiting as OxPo Fellow the European research centre (CEE) at Sciences Po Paris. Since November 2021 Professor Ebbinghaus is member of the European Commission’s High-Level Group on the future of social protection and of the welfare state in the EU.

 

Return to Uni Mannheim

After five years as Professor of Social Policy and Head (2017-21) of the Department of Social Policy & Intervention at University of Oxford, Bernhard Ebbinghaus returned as Professor of Sociology to the University of Mannheim, leading the Macrosociology Chair at the School of Social Sciences as of January 2022. He will continue teaching comparative sociology and conducting research on welfare state reforms in Europe. Over the last twelve years he had been co-PI in the joint research centre Political Economy of Reform (SFB884) and had recently completed a project on Crisis Corporatism or Corporatism in Crisis at the Mannheim Centre for European Social Research (MZES).

High-Level Group on EU Welfare State Futures

The newly launched High-Level Group on the future of social protection and of the welfare state in the EU was launched on 16 November 2021 at the European Commission in Brussels. The Group will present recommendations on how to make social protection and welfare systems fit for the future. Professor Ebbinghaus is one of the twelve members of the High-Level Group advising the European Commission.

New LSE EUROPP Blog on Labour hoarding during the pandemic

New LSE EUROPP Blog by Bernhard Ebbinghaus and Lukas Lehner

Job retention schemes have helped Europe to avoid mass unemployment during the Covid-19 pandemic. Bernhard Ebbinghaus and Lukas Lehner write that while these schemes had an immediate impact during lockdown, the future development and long-term consequences of job retention policies remain uncertain.