About us
Family businesses are built on intergenerational dialogue — where tradition and experience meets new ideas and innovation.
Our research team reflects this dynamic. We bring together scholars from different generations and career stages, combining decades of experience in family business research with fresh academic perspectives. This intergenerational collaboration shapes how we approach this study: with depth, openness, and genuine curiosity about the voices and perspectives of the NextGen.
We believe the future of European family businesses can only be understood by listening to those who will shape it — you, the next generation.
Our Team
Prof. Dr. Christine Scheef
Associate Professor of Strategy at Vlerick Business School, Belgium
Christine researches how family businesses navigate big questions: From governance and succession to long-term survival across generations. What motivates her most is understanding how the next generation experiences the opportunities and the pressure of growing up in a family business, and how they define their own path within (or beyond) it.
Her academic journey has taken her from Germany to Switzerland, Singapore, and Belgium, giving her an international perspective on how family businesses operate across cultures and contexts. Christine earned her PhD at the University of St.Gallen in Switzerland.
Beyond academia, she regularly speaks with family business owners and board members about succession and governance. These real conversations shape her work — and constantly remind her that behind every structure or strategy, there are real people figuring things out.
Find out more about her here and on Vlerick’s website.
Our Team
Prof. Dr. Mateja Andric
Assistant Professor in Management at the University of Melbourne, Australia
Affiliated Researcher at the House of Innovation, Stockholm School of Economics, Sweden
Mateja studies how entrepreneurs and family business members navigate between their private lives and business. She is particularly passionate about understanding how family, private life, and business interact with each other over time across individuals’ life course.
Mateja has earned her PhD at the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland. In addition to her current role at the University of Melbourne, she is an affiliated researcher at the Center for Family Enterprise within the House of Innovation, Stockholm School of Economics, Sweden.
Mateja is a family business next generation member herself and regularly engages with family business NextGens through workshops and seminars to understand their needs and challenges.
Find out more about her here.
Our Team
Prof. Dr. Reinhard Prügl
Full Professor of Management and Head of Vienna Institute for Family Business (VIF) at WU Vienna, Austria
Affiliated Professor and Founding Member of Friedrichshafen Institute for Family Entrepreneurship (FIF) at Zeppelin University, Lake Constance, Germany
Reinhard is researching family firms and business families with an emphasis on the intersection of entrepreneurship, strategy, and innovation as well as intergenerational transfer strategies and processes with a focus on the perspective of the next generation. Furthermore, he is interested in doing research on family business branding, family governance, and family offices.
His learning journey has taken him from Vienna, where he earned his PhD at WU, to Boston, Innsbruck and Milano, Lake Constance and back to Vienna. Beyond academia, he regularly gives keynotes, consults with family business owners and business families on succession issues, acts as board member and support in building new ventures.
Our academic institutions
Supporting institutions
We look for selected partners who share our interest in strengthening the future of family businesses. The study remains academically independent. All findings are analysed and reported by the research team.
The EQUA foundation supports the supports the study in Germany. You find the details here.
