Together with the Austrian Institute for Family Studies (AIF) at the University of Vienna and the Federal Institute for Population Research (BiB), the State Institute for Family Research at the University of Bamberg (ifb) cohosted the annual European Congress on Family Science from July 6 to 8. In their lectures, cofounder and former Managing Director of NEPS, Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Hans-Peter Blossfeld, and Operational Manager of the NEPS Data Center, Dr. Jan Skopek, revealed a process-oriented, sociological perspective on processes of family formation and the interplay of family structures and educational choices.
The topic of this year’s congress was the “Future of the Family–Demands on Family Policy and Family Science”. More than 150 participants from all over Europe came to Bamberg to discuss current developing trends in the context of the family—an environment that plays a key role in educational processes, especially at early ages. In his presentation entitled “Influence of families for the educational pathways of their children”, Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Hans-Peter Blossfeld highlighted this correlation and pointed out the extensive data collection of the National Educational Panel Study on this topic. Additionally, congress participants had the opportunity to learn more about individual studies as well as the different ways of data access at the NEPS booth.