The Leibniz Institute for Educational Trajectories (LIfBi) in Bamberg studies educational processes from birth to old age. In order to promote longitudinal research in educational science in Germany, LIfBi provides a fundamental, supraregional and internationally significant, research-based infrastructure for empirical educational research. The core of the institute is the National Educational Panel Study (NEPS), which is based at LIfBi and combines the expertise of a Germany-wide, interdisciplinary network of excellence.

1/13/2022

Researching Educational Environments: Ilka Wolter Takes up New Professorship at the University of Bamberg

She has been associated with the National Educational Panel Study (NEPS) for more than seven years. At the beginning of 2022, Dr. Ilka Wolter has now been appointed to the W3 Professorship for Educational Research with a Focus on Development and Learning at the University of Bamberg.

The professorship at the Faculty of Human Sciences is linked to the management of Department 1 "Competencies, Personality, Learning Environments" at the Leibniz Institute for Educational Trajectories (LIfBi), which Wolter already took over on a temporary basis in 2019.

The psychologist, who has been a member of the LIfBi since 2014, is very much looking forward to the new tasks and challenges: "Continuing and expanding the close links between educational research at the university and at the LIfBi is a particular concern of mine. The focal points of the department "Competencies, Personality, Learning Environments" and the new professorship at the Institute of Psychology are ideally intertwined and offer researchers at both institutions excellent prospects for fruitful collaboration," says Wolter.

The director of LIfBi, Professor Cordula Artelt, compliments the good cooperation with the University of Bamberg, which was also expressed in the work of the two committees in the appointment process: "With Ms. Wolter we have been able to win an excellent candidate for the so important position of department head at LIfBi".

Prof. Dr. Kai Fischbach, President of the University of Bamberg, is also pleased about the nomination: "With Ms. Wolter, we are gaining an outstanding scientist who addresses issues of high social relevance in her research. I am pleased that this will significantly enrich teaching and our research profile in the field of education."

Prof. Dr. Ilka Wolter is a psychologist who works on topics and methods of empirical educational research. Since 2019, she has been acting head of the scientific department 1 "Competencies, Personality, Learning Environments" at LIfBi and is one of the scientific managers in the National Education Panel (NEPS), the largest long-term education study in Germany. In her research, Wolter focuses, among other things, on questions of competence development over the life course and the influence of gender stereotypes and gender-typed educational environments on students' academic development.

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NEPS | National Educational Panel Study

The National Educational Panel Study is the largest long-term educational study in Germany. By continuously interviewing and testing more than 70,000 people, an internationally significant treasure trove of data is being created and is growing, which can be used to research educational processes from birth to high adulthood. 

The NEPS combines the expertise of more than 200 scientists at more than 13 locations throughout Germany and is based at LIfBi in Bamberg.

 

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