Bamberg Graduate School of Social Sciences (BAGSS)

The Bamberg Graduate School of Social Sciences (BAGSS) was established in 2010 to create an innovative working and learning environment for exceptionally qualified doctoral researchers. It has received funding under the German Excellence Initiative since November 2012.

Research

The School’s ambition is to stimulate and guide cutting-edge research on some of the most crucial challenges faced by modern knowledge-based societies. Modern economies compete for the most creative minds domestically and internationally. Schools and universities help people to develop the skills necessary for them to compete in the labour market. But people’s choices about education and their opportunities in the labour market are influenced by a large number of social, economic and political factors. Therefore, the school seeks to stimulate research in the following inter-connected areas:

• Pillar 1: Education, Personal Development and Learning from Early Childhood to Adulthood)
• Pillar 2: Education and Social Inequality Across the Entire Life Course
• Pillar 3: Changes in Human Capital, Labour Markets and Demographic Structures and their Impact on Social Inequality in Modern Societies
• Pillar 4: Governance, Institutional Change and Political Behaviour

Features

BAGSS offers a highly attractive place for doctoral students wishing to pursue research, and receive tailored training, on these and related issues. Doctoral researchers at BAGSS benefit from:

• the pooled expertise of a number of nationally and internationally recognised sociologists, psychologists, educational scientists, political scientists, economists, demographers and statisticians;
• a highly research-active environment with an outstanding track record of interdisciplinary projects;
• a well-established network of high-quality national and international collaborations;
• a structured yet flexible qualification programme;
• close and comprehensive supervision and mentoring