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Welcome to our department, Dr. Lüthen! Your research focuses on economic inequality - a relevant topic. Also researchers from Konstanz look at this topic within the cluster "The Politics of Inequality". Did this influence your decision to join our department?

Of course, I am happy about the cluster! Overall, I enjoyed coming to Konstanz and I feel very welcomed. Unfortunately, under the current circumstances, I could not yet get to know the members of the cluster in person. Nevertheless, I already know some of them and I will plan a visit as soon as possible!

In this winter semester, you (temporarily) hold a position at the Chair for Economic and Social Policy and offer a lecture on economic policy as well as a seminar on economic inequality for bachelor students. Both courses take place online. Did you have to design a new concept for your courses?

I talked to the professors at our department and also with other colleagues about the experiences of the (unplanned) online semester in the last summer term, and, consequently, designed a concept including video and online elements. This works very well given the current circumstances – yet, I hope that the universities will soon be able to return to regular classes. Overall, however, I think the digital experience is valuable and can be beneficial for teaching in the future.

What message or advice would you like to give students to take with them?

In the (online) conversations with students, I often hear that they are also personally interested in the topic of inequality. It is very important to be able to combine study and personal interests. I think that Konstanz is a good place to do so. Besides, I am not planning to visit Konstanz only for professional reasons - I've heard so many good things about the nature there and above all, once in a while, you have to take a break!

When conducting this interview, Holger Lüthen happened to be still in Berlin and could not yet move into his office at the University of Konstanz due to the current circumstances. We hope to meet you soon in person.

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About Dr. Holger Lüthen:

Dr. Holger Lüthen studied at Freie Universität Berlin and the University of Limerick, Ireland. He completed his doctoral studies at the DIW Graduate Center in Berlin and Washington, D.C., and the Freie Universität Berlin. During his postdoc, he was responsible for coordinating the doctoral program "Tax and Social Policy in the Face of Growing Inequality". He also coordinated the project "SOEP-RV", which combines SOEP survey data with administrative data from the German pension insurance. His research focuses on inequality and social policy.