ERC Consolidator Grants for Professor Irena Kogan and Professor Ulrich Wagner

This week, the European Research Council (ERC) announced that two prestigious EU grants have been awarded to researchers at the University of Mannheim: Sociologist Irena Kogan receives the grant for her project “Partnership Formation in the Context of Recent Refugee Migration” (PARFORM) and economist Ulrich Wagner for his project “Health, Labor and Environmental Regulation in Post-industrial Europe” (HEAL).” The funding is provided for a period of five years, with the grants worth almost two million euros and 1.4 million euros respectively. 

The President of the University of Mannheim, Professor Dr. Thomas Puhl, congratulated Professor Kogan and Professor Wagner on their enormous achievement: “We are very pleased that another two researchers at our university have received ERC grants. In this latest round of funding, only seven Consolidator Grants were awarded for projects in the economic sciences throughout Europe and only twelve for projects in the social sciences. The prizes confirm our university’s excellent international reputation in these two fields.” 

About Professor Irena Kogan’s ERC Consolidator Grant

In her research project, Irena Kogan examines how male refugees who have recently immigrated to Germany find partners. “This is a crucial aspect of social integration,” the sociologist explains. Her research focuses on male refugees from Syria and Afghanistan aged between 18 and 30 years. 

Sociological studies show that the ethnic background is one of the most important criteria when choosing a partner. Due to the significant surplus of men, the male refugees who arrive in Germany do not all find partners within their own ethnic group. In addition, Syrian and Afghan communities do not have a long-standing tradition in Germany yet. So what options do these immigrants have when looking for a partner?

To answer this question, the sociologist analyzes the role of social media and online dating portals, as refugees are very Internet-savvy. In addition, she examines the extent to which Germans and immigrants living in Germany are willing to be in relationships with refugees. Would a partnership be an option for them if they, for example, shared the same religion or language? 

The project was developed from an ongoing long-term study the sociologist is involved in, which is conducted in Mannheim and funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG). This study examines the life courses and integration processes of young people with and without an immigrant background. Read more about Irena Kogan’s research and publications: https://www.sowi.uni-mannheim.de/en/kogan/research/#c126948.

About Professor Ulrich Wagner’s ERC Consolidator Grant

In the research project for which he received the ERC grant, Economics professor Ulrich Wagner assesses the impact of air pollution on our health. One of the aspects he looks at is the economic damage caused by air pollutants, such as nitrogen oxides and fine particles, as a result of the European emissions trading system. 

The emissions trading system was introduced in 2005 and aims to reduce CO2 emissions in a cost-efficient way: The burden of companies’ prevention efforts is to be distributed in such a way that the total prevention costs are minimized. Thus, the redistribution of CO2 emissions within Europe is an intentional consequence of emissions trading. However, the extent to which, in addition to the greenhouse gas CO2, air pollutants such as nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxide are also redistributed within Europe has not been sufficiently researched yet. 

“I want to find out whether more or fewer people in Europe have been exposed to harmful air pollution since emissions trading was introduced as well as to investigate the economic harm or benefit it might have created,” Wagner explains. 

To do so, the researcher uses statistical methods to calculate the extent to which emissions trading influences the emission of air pollutants and analyzes their spatial distribution using methods from atmospheric chemistry. “My interdisciplinary project aims to contribute reliable evidence on the potential benefits of climate policy—so that the EU does not use a trial-and-error approach to climate policy but a smart one,” the 43-year-old environmental economist says. 

Read more about Ulrich Wagner’s research and career:  https://www.vwl.uni-mannheim.de/en/wagner/ 

About the European Research Council (ERC)
Funding fundamental pioneering research is a key priority of the European Union. For this purpose, the European Research Council (ERC) was established in 2007. With the ERC Consolidator Grants, the EU promotes outstanding scientists and scholars at a relatively early stage of their career and supports them in consolidating their standing as independent researchers. The ERC’s decision in awarding the highly endowed grants is based on the scientific excellence of the applicants and the significance and impact of their research proposal. In this round of funding, a total of 600 million euros were awarded to 301 top researchers across 24 countries.  

Click here to read the press release by the ERC: https://erc.europa.eu/news/erc-awards-over-600-million-euro-europes-top-researchers