About the Research Center SFB 884

The Collaborative Research Center (in German: Sonderforschungsbereich) SFB 884 “Political Economy of Reforms” at the University of Mannheim funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) for the period 2010–2021. This is the maximum length of a funding period for Collaborative Research Cenrers and one proof of our successful research in the past ten years.

About 150 international researchers from political science, economics, sociology, statistics and commputer science conduct research in 18 projects at this interdisciplinary research center. Most offices and our data center are located in the award winning new building in B 6, 30–32.

The University of Mannheim is one of the leading research universities in Germany. According to the funding ranking of the German National Science Foundation, the University is top in the category of the social sciences and economics. It is in these fields that the Univeristy of Mannheim has repeatedly been ranked as one of the top 20 European research institutions. Numerous disciplinary rankings, awards and evaluations proof the quality of research and teaching at the University of Mannheim.

The University’s trademark is its distinct profile. This is characterized by Mannheim’s renowned economic and social sciences which are closely intertwined with humanities, law, mathematics and computer science.

The School ofSocial Sciences, the Department of Economics and the Department of Business Informatics are the main collaborating institutions of the SFB 884, with three research institutes as cooperating partners (GESIS, MZES, ZEW).

Each department has a high international scholarly reputation and strong collaboration with leading research centers. Besides their individual record, all three departments have a long interdisciplinary tradition. In addition to the internal collaborating institutions, the SFB 884 is closely linked to the Institute for Anthropomatics and Robotics (IAR) at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and the Institute for Political Science at Leibniz University Honnover.