Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Merkel has been Director of the department “Democracy and Democratisation” at the Social Science Research Centre Berlin (WZB) and Professor of Political Science at the Humboldt University Berlin from 2004-2020. He also has been a Professor of Political Science at the Universities of Mainz (1995-1998) and the University of Heidelberg. He held visiting professorships at the Universities in Madrid, Sidney, Hertie School of Governance, Berlin. 
He is and has been a member of a number of academic key bodies, including the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities. He is also a non-party member of the Basic Values Commission of the Executive Committee of the German Social Democratic Party (SPD). He has been a political advisor to several social democratic governments in Europe.