Steven Vertovec is the Founding Director at the Max-Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity, and Honorary Professor of Sociology and Ethnology at the University of Göttingen, Germany. Previously, he was Professor of Transnational Anthropology at the University of Oxford, and Director of the British Economic and Social Research Council’s Centre on Migration, Policy, and Society (COMPAS). Steve’s work involves the critical examination of several concepts surrounding international migration, transnational social formations, ethnic diasporas, and contexts of urban diversity. His education includes a B.A. (Magna cum laude) in Anthropology and Religious Studies from the University of Colorado, an M.A. in Religious Studies from the University of California at Santa Barbara, and a DPhil in Social Anthropology from the University of Oxford. In 2018, he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate (Social Sciences) by the Université de Liège. Steve is currently Co-Editor of the journal Global Networks and Co-Editor of the Palgrave book series “Global Diversities”. He is also the author of five books, including “Transnationalism” (Routledge, 2009) and “Diversity and Contact” (Palgrave 2016), and is Editor or Co-Editor of 35 volumes, including “Islam in Europe” (Macmillan, 1997), “Conceiving Cosmopolitanism” (Oxford University Press, 2003), “The Multicultural Backlash” (Routledge 2010), “The International Handbook of Diversity Studies” (Routledge, 2015), and “The Oxford Handbook of Super-diversity” (Oxford University Press, forthcoming). For over 25 years, Steve has engaged with a range policy-makers, including the Expert Council of German Foundations on Migration and Integration, the UK government’s Cabinet Office and Home Office, the European Commission, the G8, the World Bank, and UNESCO.
Current Position(s):
- Director, Max-Planck-Institute for the Study of Ethnic and Religious Diversity, Göttingen, Germany
- Honorary Joint Professor of Sociology and Ethnology, University of Göttingen, Germany
- Supernumerary Fellow, Linacre College, Oxford
Research projects
- Backlash against multiculturalism? European discourses, policies and practices (completed) (with Susanne Wessendorf)
- Between accommodation and integration: comparing institutional arrangements for asylum-seekers
- Conditions of conviviality and conflict (completed) (with Andreas Wimmer (University of California Los Angeles) and Stefan Lindemann)
- The diversification of postwar migration (completed) (with Alan Gamlen and Norbert Winnige)
- DivA · Diversity Assent in Urban Germany (Karen Schönwälder, Lucas Drouhot and Steven Vertovec, in cooperation with Sören Petermann (Dortmund University))
- Diversity and contact (‘DivCon’) (completed) (Project leader: Karen Schönwälder • with Sören Petermann, Jörg Hüttermann, Thomas Schmitt, Mijal Gandelsman-Trier, Christian Jacobs, Miles Hewstone and Katharina Schmid (both Oxford), Dietlind Stolle (McGill))
- Diversity and integration in Frankfurt (completed) (with Regina Römhild (Ludwig-Maximilian-Universität München), Amt für multikulturelle Angelegenheiten in Frankfurt)
- Diversity of asylum seekers’ needs and aspirations (completed) (with Susanne Becker, Annett Fleischer, Miriam Schader, Shahd Wari)
- Ethno-religious diversity and social trust (completed) (with Miles Hewstone (University of Oxford), Anthony Heath (University of Oxford), Ceri Peach (University of Oxford) and Sarah Spencer (University of Oxford))
- GlobaldiverCities (‘GloDiv’) - Migration and new diversities in global cities: comparatively conceiving, observing and visualizing diversification in urban public spaces (completed) (Project leader: Steven Vertovec • Researchers: Sofya Aptekar, Anna Cieslik, Beate Engelbrecht, Dörte Ulka Engelkes, Laavanya Kathiravelu, Raji Matshedisho, Alexei Matveev, Anna Seegers-Krückeberg, Alex Wafer, Junjia Ye, Abbas Yousefpour)
- Migration (completed)
- Migration and diversity (completed)
- Multiculturalism (completed) (with Gerd Baumann (University of Amsterdam))
- The Routledge International Handbook of Diversity Studies (completed)
- Super-diversity
- Super-diversity, South Africa (completed) (with Robin Cohen and various colleagues at the Universities of Cape Town, Stellenbosch, Johannesburg, and Witwatersrand)
- Transnationalism (completed)