Master of German Studies, Sociology and Pedagogy at the Universität Münster, doctorate in Social Sciences; title of doctoral thesis: "Participative management of universities. Target agreements – management structures – control by the state/public steering "at Universität Klagenfurt/Österreich. Trained as a systematic organisational consultant; editorial traineeship with a newspaper.

Professional experience in the field of higher education development, politics and research as:

• head of department for communication and strategic higher education development at Universität für Wirtschaft und Politik Hamburg
  
• member of the management team for the ProUni university development project at the Universität Hamburg
  
• research assistant in the department for higher education research at the Interdisciplinary Faculty for Research and Further Training in Vienna/Austria
  
• team assistant for the Senator for Science in Hamburg
  
• lecturer in study programmes for management of higher education institutions at the Donau-Krems-Universität and the Fachhochschule Osnabrück.

Activity focus at CHE:

• Coaching projects related to quality management and accreditation, HEI steering and strategy development, diversity management
  
• National and international evaluation procedures
  
• Research projects related to higher education governance, quality assurance, career development in higher education and fair access to higher education
  
• Co-responsible for the CHE further training programme „Hochschulkurs – Fortbildung für das Wissenschaftsmanagement“ (university course – further training for science management)

Memberships:

• CHER (Consortium of Higher Education Researchers)
  
• Gesellschaft für Hochschulforschung (Association for Higher Education Research)
  
• Stiftungsrat der Evaluationsagentur Baden-Württemberg (evalag)
  
• DeGeval Gesellschaft für Evaluation e.V.
  
• Wissenschaftlicher Beirat für Qualitätssicherung in Studium und Weiterbildung der Universität Rostock

• 10/2005 - 12/2006 at CHE Centrum für Hochschulentwicklung as project manager
• 01/2007 - 12/2008 at CHE Consult as project manager
• Since 01/2009 at CHE Centrum für Hochschulentwicklung as project manager

• Nickel, Sigrun: Neue Tätigkeitsprofile, neue Feindbilder? Karrierewege im Wissenschaftsmanagement im internationalen Vergleich., in: Patricia Gautschi, Andreas Fischer (Hrsg.): Arbeitsplatz Hochschule im Wandel. zoom Heft Nr. 3, Bern, 2013, S. 35-45
  • Neue Hochschulprofessionen Artikel Nickel2013.pdf (pdf)

• Nickel, Sigrun: 10 Jahre Juniorprofessur - Was haben sie für Frauen gebracht? , in: BMBF (Hrsg.): Exzellenz und Chancengerechtigkeit: Das Professorinnenprogramm des Bundes und der Länder. Dokumentation der Fachtagung am 18. und 19. Juni 2012 in Berlin, Bonn, 2013, S. 33
  • Online-Dokument