Jürgen Schupp enters well-deserved retirement
Personnel news of December 20, 2025
Last week, SOEP celebrated Jürgen Schupp and his forthcoming (at the end of the year) retirement. During the ceremony, he humorously referred to himself as SOEP's “dinosaur.”
During his 41 years at DIW Berlin, he initially worked as a research assistant, then as the survey manager in the infrastructure unit. Subsequently, he was its director for many years. His impressive career as a researcher was intertwined with SOEP from the very beginning: after graduating with a degree in sociology from Johann Wolfgang Goethe University (now Goethe University) in Frankfurt am Main in 1983, he worked as a research assistant at Collaborative Research Center 3, “Microanalytical Foundations of Social Policy,” in a subproject based at Goethe University. There, he became enthusiastic about another newly launched project of Sfb 3 (led by SOEP founder and DIW President Hans-Jürgen Krupp), which was the forerunner of SOEP.
Jürgen Schupp moved to DIW Berlin at the end of 1984 and played a key role in the successful early expansion of SOEP in the former GDR. In 1994, he earned his doctorate from Ruhr University Bochum. In 2006, the Department of Political and Social Sciences at Freie Universität Berlin appointed him honorary professor of sociology.
Starting in 2004, he was SOEP’s deputy head. In February 2011, he took over the interim management of the research-based infrastructure unit SOEP together with Joachim R. Frick. In 2013, he was appointed university professor (W3) for sociology, specializing in empirical social research, at the Free University of Berlin in cooperation with DIW Berlin. He remained director of SOEP until 2017. Under his scientific leadership, SOEP repeatedly received the rating “excellent” in various evaluations. His ongoing interest in scientific knowledge led to the continuous introduction of innovations at SOEP on his initiative, which promoted scientific excellence, thus forming an important pillar of SOEP's success.
We wish Jürgen Schupp the best of health and all the best for the next stage of his life. In keeping with Trude Herr's saying, “You never really leave,” it should be noted that Jürgen Schupp will hold the title of “DIW Honorary Fellow” in the future—thus his expertise will remain available to DIW Berlin and SOEP.
Jürgen Schupp (former SOEP Director) next to Marcel Fratzscher (DIW President) at the SOEP Christmas party in 2025
© DIW Berlin