18th RGS Doctoral Conference 2025

About the Conference

It is our pleasure to welcome you to the 18th RGS Doctoral Conference, with the headline topic “Family Economics”. We are excited about the high-quality contributions to this year’s conference program and honored that you are joining us to present your work and discuss your research with other doctoral students. The conference is organized annually by the Ruhr Graduate School in Economics (RGS Econ), rotating locations between those of RGS Econ’s initiators: Bochum, Duisburg, Dortmund, and Essen. The conference serves as a platform for young talented economists – just like you – to engage in fruitful discussions, to learn and share knowledge, to build networks, and, ideally, to initiate joint research projects. RGS Econ’s faculty members, who will chair the sessions, are also more than happy to discuss research ideas and give comments. Engage!

As a particular highlight and in line with this year’s focus on Family Economics, the conference features a keynote speech by Professor Michèle Tertilt (University of Mannheim) and Aslı Sevindim (Head of Integration department, NRW Ministry).

We hope that the conference persistently contributes to the advancement of economic research and research-based policy advice, through dialogue and mutual understanding, by bringing together early-career researchers and prospective leaders from across Europe and the world. Comments and suggestions for improvement are highly welcome.

Kind regards,
Prof. Dr. Christoph Hanck, Director RGS Econ
Prof. Dr. Christoph M. Schmidt, Director RGS Econ