The Max Planck Society is launching a 6-year research project to explore how education must change to account for rapid societal transformations. As of April 2026, the “EduTrack” project initiates a collaboration between researchers across three Max Planck Institutes. Experts from demography, history, computer science and political science will collaborate to produce fresh insights on digital education, the globalisation of knowledge, as well as the impact of education on social mobility, crisis resilience, and democracy.
The project is led by Population Europe, ensuring policy impact of the research.
The future of education
EduTrack was created as a reaction to a number of global megatrends which are at risk of making education systems dysfunctional if no political action is taken. Two of these megatrends are demographic and technological change. As working lives become longer and digitalisation changes jobs at a faster pace, people’s skillsets are more at risk of becoming fully outdated at least once over the course of their working lives. A recent report by the European Commission warns of such “skills obsolescence” and calls for “a structural shift from a linear ‘pipeline’ career model to a ‘cyclical’ one, institutionalising lifelong learning”.
Meanwhile, knowledge is becoming increasingly globalised on the one hand, and stratified on the other. Reports show that in Europe, education is no longer working as a “social elevator”.
This can become an issue for the cohesion and development of societies. As president of the MPG, Patrick Cramer stated in 2025 in Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung: “Educational deficits reduce the starting opportunities of many young people, are linked to social disadvantage, and have a negative impact on people's health.” The MPG president challenged science in its role as a policy advisor, stating that science “provides a sound basis for the political decision-making process, exposes supposedly simple solutions as inadequate, and identifies sustainable options for action.”
The four partners in EduTrack will create new insights as starting points for the transformation of learning, research institutions, and working lives.
The partners and their portfolios:
Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock: Sociodemographic circumstances shape educational pathways and vice-versa. The MPI for Demographic Research is one of the world leaders in the analysis of population dynamics. The EduTrack researchers in Rostock will investigate the interplay of education with health, family-formation, employment and migration. This will help us to understand the role of education in shaping equal opportunities, while also revealing inequalities and barriers that influence educational and career pathways. The team is led by Daniela Perrotta, Alyson van Raalte, Emilio Zagheni and Mikko Myrskylä.
Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Berlin: Societies create scientific and technological knowledge, but how do they share and reshape it across different eras and regions? At the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in Berlin, the EduTrack research team will examine how human migration, social mobility, and digital access reshape knowledge exchange between Asia and Europe. Anchored in historical perspectives, the project will examine the implications of contemporary developments – from grassroots knowledge-sharing practices to national digitization strategies. The research will situate the recent past in a longer historical arc and thereby generate fresh comparative insights that can strengthen collaboration in higher education and academic research. The team is led by Lisa Onaga and Shih-Pei Chen.
Max Planck Institute for Political and Social Science, Göttingen: Teachers reflect, mediate, and – at times – challenge understandings of inequality and political values. How are teachers’ beliefs and political attitudes evolving as education systems undergo rapid social and technological change? The research group Teachers, Inequality, and Collective Action (TICA), studies teachers as key social and political actors. Combining institutional analysis with survey and qualitative research, the group investigates the drivers of teachers’ perceptions of educational transformation and inequality, their political values and their collective engagement across different global contexts. The group is led by Hania Sobhy.
Population Europe (Berlin): Alongside the research, a “Policy Lab” will create dialogue between researchers and policymakers. This Policy Lab consists of public dialogue events throughout the EduTrack project. It is run by Population Europe – the network of Europe’s leading demographic research centres. The network provides an international knowledge pool of policy-relevant research. 41 partner institutes and more than 250 experts engage in advice on topics such as education, social cohesion, health, resilience, and competitiveness.
As of early 2026, the teams have started setting up their research projects. Public events to engage policymakers with research will commence in early 2027.
EduTrack project page
