Prof. Dr. Petra Bendel

Prof. Dr. Petra Bendel

Professor of Political Science, Head of Research on Migration, Displacement and Integration

Institute of Political Science
Research on Migration, Displacement and Integration

Room: Room B2A3
Bismarckstraße 1
91054 Erlangen

Office hours:

During the semester Tuesdays, 9:00-10:00am, B2A3, Bismarckstr. 1, 91054 Erlangen or by appointment (by mail: petra.bendel@fau.de).

Prof. Dr. Petra Bendel is Professor of Political Science at the Institute of Political Science at FAU Erlangen-Nuremberg and is the head of the Research on Migration, Flight and Integration (MFI). She is a founding member of the Center for Human Rights (CHREN) Erlangen-Nuremberg, FAU Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany, where she leads a variety of research projects as well as practice-oriented pilot projects on migration-related topics. She also transfers her research topics into her university teaching in various Master’s and Bachelor’s degree programs, where she further ensures a practice-oriented exchange with politicians.

Prof. Dr. Petra Bendel has more than 30 years of academic and professional experience in the research fields of democracy, migration and human rights. She has worked in Germany, Austria, Spain and Latin America.

One of her main areas of work is to serve as policy advisor for various political decision-making levels in migration, refugee and integration policy. She currently serves as a member of the Advisory Council for Participation and Integration of the State Government of North Rhine-Westphalia and is chairperson of the Advisory Board “Mobility and Migration” of the Goethe-Institute. Among other things, she was Chairwoman of the Expert Council for Integration and Migration (2019-2023), Chairwoman (2015-2020) of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Federal Office for Migration and Integration (BAMF), member of the Federal Government’s Expert Commission on Integration, member of the Bavarian State Parliament’s Enquête Commission on Integration as well as various expert committees of foundations.

Petra Bendel habilitated on EU asylum and migration policy and received the habilitation prize by the Faculty of Philosophy at FAU. Her dissertation at Ruprecht-Karls-University Heidelberg dealt with political parties and party systems in Central America. In this context, she worked as a research assistant at the GIGA Institute in Hamburg and at the Institute for Political Science in Heidelberg. She has been awarded the Bavarian Medal of Europe for her services to Bavaria’s reputation in Europe and the world and the Medal of Merit of the FAU Erlangen-Nuremberg.