The Institute for World Society Studies was founded by Rudolf Stichweh, Karin Knorr-Cetina and Hans-Dieter Evers in 2000. Since its foundation, the institute has grown considerably and the pioneering work of Rudolf Stichweh has attracted many world society researchers from different theoretical schools. Today we have about 70 members - among them a group of talented younger scholars. They all are not only involved in conducting research in more than 30 projects, 33 dissertations but also in teaching actitivities at the International Graduate School in Sociology.

Today the Institute for World Society Studies is led by Mathias Albert, Ulrike Davy, Bettina Heintz and Lutz Leisering.