Sophie Guthmuller’s Successful Habilitation

PD Dr. Sophie Guthmuller has successfully completed her habilitation, earning the venia legendi in Socioeconomics. In her cumulative habilitation thesis, titled “Reducing Health Disparities: Essays on Social Determinants of Health and the Causal Impact of Social Programs,” she examines the social determinants of health, analyzing the mechanisms behind health disparities and providing causal evidence on the effectiveness of social programs aimed at reducing these inequalities in areas such as healthcare access, disease prevention, social support, and education.

To support her habilitation and the completion of her tenure-track agreement, she received funding from the OeNB through the Dr. Maria Schaumayer Habilitation Scholarship. The habilitation process was successfully concluded on 9 June 2026 with a lecture titled “Quantitative Methods for Causal Inference in Socioeconomics Research: Measuring the Impacts of Social Programs on Health Disparities.”

PD Dr. Sophie Guthmuller was awarded the title of Privatdozentin (PD) in Socioeconomics on 11 June 2026. Having fulfilled the requirements of her tenure-track agreement, she has officially been recognized as an Associate Professor at WU since 1 September 2026.

We warmly congratulate our colleague on this outstanding achievement and look forward to her continued contributions to academic excellence and research innovation at our university.