In the photo (from left to right): Dr. Stefan Koch (DFG), Prof. Peter Tymms, Dr. Gesa Münchhausen (BMBF), Prof. Peter Elias, Prof. Walter Müller, Prof. Bernd Fitzenberger, Dr. Jutta von Maurice, Prof. Robert Erikson, Prof. Hans-Peter Blossfeld, Prof. Kathy Sylva, Prof. Hans-Günther Roßbach, Dr. Bernd Schaal (KMK), Prof. Louis-André Vallet.
In the meeting of the INBIL Board of Trustees, representatives of the projects located at INBIL, for example, BiKS, Perle and eduLIFE, informed the attendees about the current state of their projects. Two other programs that are also part of INBIL, namely, NEPS and the DFG Priority Programme “Education as a Lifelong Process” , were discussed in more detail in the subsequent meeting of the Scientific Board of the National Educational Panel Study.
In the meeting of the NEPS Scientific Board, the great strides which the project has made over the past year were presented to Board members. In particular, NEPS staff gave presentations regarding the current state of fieldwork, innovations and analytical potential of stage 8 “Adult Education and Lifelong Learning”, the measurement of competencies across the life span, and the tasks of the NEPS data center including an overview of already published NEPS data and upcoming releases. The Managing Project Director and Principal Investigator Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Hans-Peter Blossfeld gave an insight into the first funding phase of the DFG priority program “Education as a Lifelong Process” from 2012 to 2014. During this period, different projects for the analysis of NEPS data will be funded. In conclusion, Prof. Blossfeld highlighted the progress made in the institutionalization process of NEPS towards becoming a Leibniz Institute. In the afternoon, the Board members and permanent guests had the opportunity to inform themselves about the different work packages on-site. The NEPS team in Bamberg was available for questions and discussions. On the second day of the event, Prof. Erikson, Prof. Tymms, and Prof. Müller presented some topics from their own research interests.
Overall, the Board members were very impressed with the work of the NEPS team and their achievements so far, and they referred to NEPS as a “World Class Research Infrastructure”.