Research at the University of Mannheim
Among the Best Research Institutes in Europe
The profile of the University of Mannheim is reflected in its research achievements. In economic and social sciences, Mannheim is one of the best research centers in Germany and among the top ten to twenty institutions in Europe. All disciplines work in close cooperation with each other to determine central research subjects, for example on the topics of decisions, governance, migration and integration or language acquisition.
The University’s largest research institute is the Mannheim Centre for European Social Research (MZES). In close collaboration with the Faculty of Social Sciences, it dedicates its research to exploring societal, social and political development in Europe. Focal points are comparative research on Europe and investigating the European integration process.
In the few years since its foundation, the Mannheim Research Institute for the Economics of Aging (MEA) has also been able to establish an excellent international reputation. MEA’s mission is to anticipate and accompany the micro- and macroeconomic aspects of demographic change. MEA is part of numerous international research networks and provides sound political counsel.
Furthermore there are different collaborative research centres, such as SFB 884: "Political Economy of Reforms", which aims to provide scientific insights into success and failure of reforms, determined by competing interests, contexts and the political process of reform-making. The Project Group „Contextualized Decision Making: Investigating Mediators and Moderators", funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG), investigates how people make decisions and why decisions often depend on weeny aspects of the situation in which they are taken.
There are also a further three renowned research institutes with close ties to the University. ZEW — Center for European Economic Research, the GESIS — Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences, and IDS — Institute of German Language.
