Martin Kohli has been appointed to the Chair in Sociology, and joined the Department in October 2004 at the European University Institute. He is an elected member both of the Berlin-Brandenburg and the Austrian Academy of Sciences, and from 1997-99 he was President of the European Sociological Association (ESA). In Berlin, he directs the Research Group on Aging and the Life Course (Forschungsgruppe Altern und Lebenslauf, FALL), and participates in the International Max Planck Research School LIFE.