Backes-Gellner is Professor for Business and Personnel Economics at the Institute of Business Administration and Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Economics at the University of Zurich. 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). Together with Stefan Wolter (University of Berne) she is co-director of the Swiss Leading House on Economics of Education (www.leadinghouse.ch). 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 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.