Dr. Thomas Leopold is Associate Professor of Sociology in the Department of Sociology at University of Amsterdam. Before coming to Amsterdam, he completed a PhD in sociology (2008-2012) at the University of Bamberg and a Max Weber Postdoctoral Fellowship (2012-2013) at the European University Institute. His research interests are in family sociology, comparative research, social stratification, life course research, and demography. Leopold has published extensively in top-tier journals. Methodological expertise he will bring to the project include comparative methods, demographic methods, and methods of causal analysis. Particularly relevant to the activities of WP 1 is his professional experience as a research associate in the National Educational Panel Study (2008-2012), in which he focused on large-scale assessments of educational careers.