EDUCATION MATTERS
IEA is pleased to welcome Prof. Dr. Gabriel Nagy to the professorship supported by IEA at the University of Hamburg. This initiative marks a natural evolution of a partnership that has grown steadily over the decades, dating back to the early days of IEA’s foundational studies. With the new professorship, IEA aims to formalize and expand this collaboration even further. The position will be closely connected to the IEA Hamburg Research and Analysis Unit, supporting joint research projects in international school-performance assessments and contributing to the design of longitudinal studies. It also offers a valuable platform to promote IEA’s mission and studies within the academic community, strengthening both institutions’ global reach and impact in education research.
FOR THOSE WHO MAY NOT KNOW YOU YET, CAN YOU SHARE A BIT ABOUT YOUR ACADEMIC BACKGROUND AND RESEARCH INTERESTS? I originally studied psychology and completed my doctorate at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin. It was there that my interest in education research began to grow, and it has stayed with me ever since. After my postdoctoral fellowship at the same institute, I accepted an assistant professorship at the University of Tübingen, followed by a professorship at the Leibniz Institute for Science and Mathematics Education in Kiel. Broadly speaking, my research centers on how individuals develop within institutional educational settings during their school years and beyond. I am particularly interested in how people navigate educational and career pathways, how they develop different types of competence along the way, and how these competencies shape long-term outcomes. Addressing these questions involves complex methodological challenges. This is one reason why I developed an early interest in statistics and educational measurement, two areas that have become integral to my research and continue to inform my perspective on educational processes. WHAT ATTRACTED YOU TO APPLY FOR THIS PROFESSORSHIP, AND WHAT EXCITES YOU ABOUT STEPPING INTO THIS ROLE BETWEEN ACADEMIA AND INTERNATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSESSMENT? My research has always been shaped by a population-level perspective. Early in my career, this naturally led me to work extensively with large-scale data. In that sense, this professorship felt like a natural fit, and deciding to apply was easy. I’m especially pleased about the opportunity it offers to expand my work in this area.
At the same time, this professorship marks a new role for me. I believe this role will evolve over time, particularly because it requires aligning individual academic inquiry with institutional and procedural frameworks of international large-scale assessments. I am excited by the opportunity to collaborate with scientists and align our research perspectives with the objectives of participating stakeholders. I see this as a collaborative process and hope to contribute constructively to the research itself, as well as to the communication and practical relevance of its results. IEA AND THE UNIVERSITY OF HAMBURG SHARE A RICH HISTORY OF COLLABORATION. HOW DO YOU SEE YOUR ROLE CONTRIBUTING TO AND EXPANDING THIS LEGACY? Maintaining and strengthening the partnership between the University of Hamburg and IEA is essential, especially since large-scale assessments require close collaboration between academic institutions and international organizations. On the one hand, such assessments cannot be carried out using university resources alone. On the other hand, they require academic input to ensure a sound scientific foundation. In this context, I am fortunate to be stepping into an established structure led by experienced researchers. This allows for a gradual transition that preserves the continuity of a strong tradition while making room for new ideas. One avenue for innovation is to strengthen the connection between IEA assessments and research activities at the University of Hamburg. One way to do so is to encourage colleagues to engage more closely with IEA data and connect their research questions with the themes and findings of these studies. This would enhance the conceptual and empirical contributions of their work to IEA studies. This approach can help us develop future
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