Introducing Prof. Dr. Eva-Maria Merz

1 October 2024

Photo: HIAS/Claudia Höhne

Prof. Dr. Eva-Maria Merz is a sociologist with a background in family studies and demography. She is head of the research line Donor Behaviour at Sanquin and Full Professor in Donor Behaviour at the Sociology department of Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.

She combines her theoretical and applied expertise within the topic of (blood and organ) donor behaviour to study donor life-courses and the influence of personal and social network characteristics across different contexts.

Currently, she is a fellow at the Hamburg Institute of Advanced Study for the academic year 2024/25 in a collaboration with Prof. Dr. Michel Clement from the Institute of Marketing at the Business School at the University of Hamburg. In a joint project, they will examine ethical and moral issues surrounding organ donation and transplantation, the availability and accessibility of transplants for patient care, and policies that seek to influence decisions about organ donation and transplantation.