The research proposal for the establishment of the NEPS written by the later NEPS consortium is positively evaluated by the German Research Foundation (DFG) in summer 2008 and funding is strongly recommended.

The NEPS starts in 2009 as a third-party funded project at the University of Bamberg at the Institute for Educational Longitudinal Research (INBIL). It is funded by the BMBF until 2013.

In 2009, starting cohort 6 "Adults" (SC6) launches with a representative sample of adults born between 1944 and 1986. Some of the participants come from the IAB study "ALWA - Working and Living in Transition".

Four of the six start cohorts will begin in 2010. Starting cohort 2 »Kinder­garten« (SC2) includes 3,000 children and their parents. Starting cohort 3 »Class 5« accompanies about 6,100 pupils from the beginning of lower secondary school.
About 16,400 pupils form the starting cohort 4 »Class 9«.
Start­ing cohort 5 »Students« accompanies 17,900 first-year students.

The publication series »NEPS Working Papers« starts (since 2017 it is continued as LIfBi Working Papers ). Articles, expert reports and results relating to NEPS data are published here.

An important milestone will be reached at the end of 2011 with the publication of the first Scientific Use File for the adult cohort (SC6). Scientists can now work with the data of 13,500 people. In addition, 5,200 participants will be added to the cohort in 2011.

The starting cohort 1 »Newborns« (SC1) with 3,400 approximately seven-month-old infants and their parents starts. The SC1 is the first longitudinal study in Germany that is representative of infancy and focuses on early childhood education and development.

Starting cohorts complete

The NEPS now counts 60,000 participants and 40,000 people from their environment.

The first funding phase of the DFG Priority Programme 1646 begins (until 2014). The programme bundles 17 research projects that deal with the study of competence development over the life course, the use of NEPS data for analyses or with NEPS-relevant methodological issues.

In December 2013, the funding of the NEPS as a third-party funded project by the BMBF ended. After the institute was founded with Professor Hans-Günther Roßbach as director, LIfBi was admitted to the Leibniz Association at the beginning of 2014.

The NEPS data treasure becomes richer and richer over the years. In 2015, scientific use files for all six starting cohorts are available to the scientific community for the first time. Already 1,000 scientists worldwide are conducting research with NEPS data.

A second funding phase of the DFG Priority Programme 1646 with 16 research projects is approved from 2015 to 2017.

In 2016, LIfBi is being included in the author group for the national report on education - findings from the NEPS thus flow into the national report on education and serve the political decision-makers in shaping German education policy.

The first NEPS conference brings together international researchers from various disciplines to exchange information on ongoing projects and current findings in educational science.

The Research Data Centre FDZ-LIfBi offers training courses on data use and data workshops several times a year - 2017 already counts the 50th training course on NEPS data use at LIfBi.

The NEPSforum, an openly accessible knowledge archive for the dialog around NEPS data, is established. Such a knowledge archive is so far unique in the German research data infrastructure.

Scientific-Use-Files

Meanwhile data from 50 survey waves have been published as scientific use files.

Third funding period of the DFG Priority Program 1646

In 2018 the third funding phase of the DFG Priority Program 1646 starts with 16 research projects (until 2019).

More than 2,000 scientists worldwide conduct research with NEPS data.

In May and June 2020, NEPS supplementary surveys (NEPS-C) are conducted in all starting cohorts, in which participants are asked about the direct effects of the Corona pandemic on everyday school, work and family life. In an accelerated procedure, the data are already being processed in the current year 2020 for initial analyses, which will be published in the new transfer series »NEPS Corona & Education«.

NEPS celebrates its 10th anniversary in the year of Corona. To mark the occasion, a magazine with reviews of the past decade is published for participants and a film is produced.

In order to be able to access sensitive NEPS data in accordance with data protection regulations, LIfBi has been offering a convenient »Remote Desktop« solution for several years. In the Corona year, an extension now makes it possible to register for data access by typing biometrics even without being at the institute in person.

The first "Call for Modules" has yielded new survey modules. This is the first time that content not originating from the NEPS network itself is included in the panel. Following a scientific evaluation and detailed discussion of 17 externally prepared project outlines, three suggestions were selected. The new modules "Self-efficacy for motivational regulation", "The innovative teacher - proactive behavior in professions" and "Conspiracy mentality and political deprivation" complement the NEPS survey program with contemporary content that is likely to be highly relevant to questions from various scientific disciplines.

More than 3,000 researchers worldwide have now registered to work with NEPS data.

New NEPS study starts

In autumn 2022, the new study "Education for Tomorrow's World" (SC8) starts in the field with 20,000 students in the fifth grade.

NEPS data show education as a lifelong process: The open access book entitled "Education, Competence Development and Career Trajectories" on the DFG Priority Program 1646 "Education as a Lifelong Process. Analyzing Data of the National Educational Panel Study (NEPS)" unites 18 contributions based on the analysis of longitudinal data from the National Educational Panel Study. 

The first edition of the transfer series "NEPS Research Compact - Current Evaluations from the National Educational Panel Study" is published. The new series reports on central research results from the NEPS and is published by the NEPS Network Committee, which is responsible for it. Issue 1 is headed "How do ICT skills develop in adolescence?" (Available in German language only)

Who do the children in NEPS Starting Cohort 8 "Education for Tomorrow's World" live with? What languages do they speak at home? These and other questions are answered individually for each school in newly designed feedback brochures. In future, all schools participating in the "Education for Tomorrow's World" sub-study of the NEPS will receive this new type of feedback at the end of each year.