Backes-Gellner is Professor for Business and Personnel Economics at the Institute of Business Administration and Co-Direktor of the Swiss Leading House on Economics of Education (www.leadinghouse.ch) together with Stefan Wolter (University of Bern). She was Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Economics at the University of Zurich from 2008-2024. Among others she was member of the German Expert Committee EFI, advising the German government on research and innovation, member of the Swiss Federal Committee on Vocational Education and Training, cofounder of the Colloquium on Personnel Economics (1998) and Deputy Chairperson of the “Verein für Socialpolitik” (2015/16). Her research focuses on personnel, education and innovation economics. With Lazear and Wolff she is the author of the German textbook “Personnel Economics” and has published papers among others in Labour Economics, Journal of Public Economics, Industrial and Labor Relations Review, Industrial Relations, Kyklos, Education Economics, and Organization Studies. She served in the scientific councils of ZEW and IAB.
She joined IZA as a Research Fellow in September 2014.