Eric Thode is the Director of the Rethinking Work Program at Bertelsmann Foundation in Gütersloh, Germany. Eric’s programme aims to provide a better understanding of current and future developments in the world of work, to identify existing and upcoming challenges and to develop policy approaches based on sound empirical analysis. Eric joined Bertelsmann Stiftung in 2001, having worked in various positions, such as the Director of the Center for International Forums and Trends. Previously, he was a research fellow at the Max-Planck-institute for the Study of Societies, Cologne, and worked as research assistant at the Chair for Economics and Social Policy at the University of Würzburg, Germany. Eric has been working as a lecturer at the University of Würzburg since 2001 and has been teaching International Economics and Economic Policy at the University of Applied Sciences in Bielefeld, Germany, from 2005-2008. Since 2009, Eric is a policy fellow at the Institute for the Study of Labour in Bonn, Germany. Eric has published widely on labor market issues, pension policies and international socio-economic comparisons both in academic journals and edited books. Eric holds an advanced degree in Economics, Econometrics and Statistics from the University of Kiel, Germany. His main areas of interest include employment and social policies, political economy and comparative policy analysis.