Prof. Dr. Marlis Buchmann, born in 1950, was appointed to the University of Zurich in 1994. Until 2005 she also held a professorship at the ETH. Since 2004 she has been executive director of the Jacobs Center for Productive Youth Development at the University of Zurich. She has also held positions as Visiting Professor at Stanford University, UCLA, NYU, The New School for Social Research, the University of Bremen, the WZB, and twice as a fellow at CASBS, Stanford. Her main areas of research are: life course, social stratification and mobility, sociology of education, occupation and labour markets, social and cultural change. She is a member of the German Academy of Natural Scientists Leopoldina.

Prof. Dr. Eldad Davidov, born in 1971, has the position of associate professor at the University of Zurich since September 2009. He studied economics and sociology at Tel Aviv University (Israel), completed his PhD at the University of Giessen (Germany) and further postdoctoral research (Habilitation) at the University of Cologne (Germany). He has been a substitute professor at both the Universities of Mannheim and Cologne (Germany). His research interests concentrate on quantitative methods and empirical social research, cross-cultural comparisons, structural equation modeling, longitudinal survey data, attitudes and values, and rational choice theories.

Prof. Dr. Hans Geser, born in 1947, was appointed to the University of Zurich in 1986. He previously held a professorship in Heidelberg. Between 2002 and 2004 he was director of the Institute of Sociology. His main research areas include: political sociology, sociology of communities and political parties, organizational and occupational sociology, new communication technologies. His research activities include comparative research related to the changes in Swiss communities and local political parties, as well as the study of changes in the qualifications required by companies.

Prof. Dr. Kurt Imhof, born in 1956, has been a full professor of sociology and media research at the University of Zurich since 2000. Originally, he was a draughtsman specializing in structural engineering, but he later went on to study history, philosophy and sociology at the University of Zurich. His dissertation was in the field of history. He then obtained a post-doctoral qualification as a lecturer in sociology and held positions as an assistant professor of sociology, as well as a visiting professorship of political science at the Universities of Zurich and Freiburg im Breisgau. His research focuses on the sociology of public sphere, social movements, sociology of minorities, social change, social theory.

Prof. Dr. Jörg Rössel, born in 1968, since 2008 Ordinarius of Sociology at the University of Zurich. He studied sociology and history at the Freie Universität Berlin. He was occupied at the Institute of Cultural Science at the University of Leibzig, the International University of Bremen, the University of Erfurt and the University of Cologne. In 2003/2004, he became a Fellow at the Center for European Studies at Harvard University. Research focus areas: sociological theory, empirical cultural sociology, social stratification, political sociology, comparative historical sociology.

Prof. Dr. Marc Szydlik, born in 1965, has been a full professor of sociology at the University of Zurich since 2004. He previously worked at the German Institute for Economic Research, the Max-Planck-Institute for Human Development and Education, the Free University of Berlin and the University of Erfurt. He has also been a visiting scholar at Harvard, Columbia, Oxford and Stanford Universities. Research focus areas: social stratification, life course, labour market, generations, empirical research. Marc Szydlik directs the research group ”LAbour, Generation and Social Stratification“ (AGES) and is director of the Institute of Sociology.

Prof. Dr. Jan Skrobanek, born in 1969, holds the position of associate professor since 2010, endowed by patron Branco Weiss. Jan Skrobanek studied educational science, sociology and philosophy at the Universities of Leipzig and Glasgow. Consecutively, he worked at the Institute of Sociology and Cultural Studies at the University of Leipzig and at the German Youth Institute in Munich/Halle. His research focus areas are: sociological theory, youth sociology, group sociology, sociology of education, occupation and employment markets, as well as program evaluation.

Prof. Dr. Peter-Ulrich Merz-Benz, born in 1953, holds the title "Senior Lecturer with Notable Appointment" at the Institute of Sociology. In addition he chairs the "Forum 'Philosophy of Humanities and Social Sciences'" at the Department of Philosophy. In 1996 he was awarded the Amalfi Special Price. He has worked twice as guest professor at the School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences in Paris. His research focus areas are: sociological theory and theory history, epistemological and methodological fundamentals of the social sciences, sociology of culture, society and religion.