Jürgen Schupp studied Economics and Sociology in Mainz and Frankfurt am Main, completing his diploma in Sociology at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt in 1983. He then took over a position as Junior Research Associate at the University of Frankfurt in the German Research Foundation’s Special Research Unit “Microanalytic Foundations of Social Policy” (Sfb 3). At the end of 1984, he transferred within the Special Research Unit into the project “Socio-Economic Panel”, located at DIW Berlin under then-president Hans-Jürgen Krupp, and thereafter made a series of longer research visits to the USA and Great Britain. In 1994, he completed his doctorate at the Ruhr-University Bochum. He has worked closely with the Free University Berlin for many years as a visiting lecturer at the Institute for Sociology. In March 2006 Jürgen Schupp has been appointed Honorary Professor for Sociology in the Faculty of Political and Social Sciences at the Free University. From 12/2005-03/2006 and 08-09/2006 Jürgen Schupp worked as Research Fellow at the Hanse Institute for Advanced Study (HWK) in Delmenhorst.
As survey manager of the longitudinal socio-economic panel study (SOEP), Jürgen Schupp has been responsible for planning the further development of SOEP as a survey instrument for many years. From February 2011 to December 2012 he served as Interim Head of Research Unit Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP). In February 2013 he was appointed as Director of Research Unit Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP). Since September 2013, Jürgen Schupp has held the position of Full Professor of Sociology with a focus on empirical social research at the Free University of Berlin in cooperation with DIW Berlin.


He joined IZA as a Research Fellow in October 2000.