Members of the Leibniz Association are evaluated by the Leibniz Senate every seven years. The evaluation focuses on the institute’s development in terms of content and structure. Negatively evaluated institutes are excluded from the Leibniz Association and receive no further public funding. This means that being positively evaluated is crucial for the institute’s future. 

Due to its positive evaluation by a commission of independent researchers, the Leibniz Senate recommends that RWI should continue to receive public funding for the next seven years. The evaluation report confirms that researchers at RWI produce very convincing research results and provide high-quality policy consulting. Moreover, the Senate strongly supports the planned establishment of the Economic Policy Lab “Climate Change, Development and Migration”. 

These are the most important findings of the commission:

• RWI should continue to receive public funding by the state and federal governments for the next seven years.
• RWI’s research departments “Labor Markets, Education, Population”, “Health Economics”, “Environment and Resources”, “Macroeconomics and Public Finance”, “FDZ Ruhr – Research Data Center”, and “Sustainability and Governance” were evaluated as “excellent” in one case, “very good to excellent” and “very good” in two cases, and “good to very good” in one case. The assessment of RWI’s scientific performance has thus again improved significantly compared to the previous evaluation in 2012. 
• Researchers at RWI conduct very convincing research that is well-published. The research results are also used for high-quality policy consulting. 
• The Leibniz Senate explicitly supports the planned establishment of the Economic Policy Lab “Climate Change, Development and Migration” as it will be a valuable complement to RWI’s research agenda.
• The establishment of the RWI Research Network has also been positively evaluated. The same is true for the “Ruhr Graduate School in Economics” (RGS Econ), a joint PhD program by RWI, the Ruhr University Bochum, the University of Duisburg-Essen, and TU Dortmund. 

RWI’s president, Prof. Dr. Christoph M. Schmidt, was very pleased and satisfied with the Senate’s recommendation: “This encourages us to continue pursuing our successful path.” He thanked all employees for their great commitment: “This result could only be achieved by a joint team effort.”

The complete statement of the Senate of the Leibniz Association can be downloaded from the Leibniz Association homepage.

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