Jan G. Voelkel

About

Jan G. Voelkel is an Assistant Professor at the Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy at Cornell University.​​​​​

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Jan's research examines the conditions under which people support practices, leaders, and organizations that promise social change. ​​​His research has been published in leading journals, such as Science, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and Nature Human Behaviour, and has been featured in major media outlets, such as The New York Times, the Washington Post, The Atlantic, Die Zeit, and Der Tagesspiegel.​

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Jan is the recipient of the New Investigator Award from the Behavioral Science & Policy Association, the 2025 Social Issues Dissertation Award from the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues, the Open Science Innovator Award from Stanford's Center for Open and Reproducible Science, and Stanford's Centennial Teaching Assistant Award.

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Jan is from the small village of Appeldorn in Germany. He earned a PhD and an MA in Sociology from Stanford University, an MS in Social and Behavioral Sciences from Tilburg University, and a BS in Social Sciences from the University of Cologne. In his spare time, Jan enjoys puzzling over moral dilemmas, playing racket sports, and planning political murder mystery parties.