Until September 2019 he held a chair at the Max Weber Institute of Sociology, Heidelberg University, where he was also the Academic Director of the Center for Social Investment and Innovation.

[1] His research interests include civil society, social innovation, organizational theory, governance and policy research, social science methodology, including indicator models [2] Anheier studied sociology and economics at the University of Trier in Germany (1976–80) and obtained a MA, MPhil and PhD at Yale (1981, 1982, 1986).

While in Africa, he also conducted research on informal sector economies, business innovation, land entrepreneurship in urban areas in Nigeria and Ghana as part of a project at the University of Cologne (1985).

While on leave from UCLA, he founded the Center for Social Investment and Innovation at Heidelberg in 2006, later joining the Max Weber Institute of Sociology, before taking on the helm of the Hertie School of Governance in 2009.

1-5 (Sage); the Global Studies Encyclopedia (Sage); the Global Civil Society Yearbook (Oxford)), pulled together a dictionary, the International Dictionary of Nonprofit and Nongovernmental Organizations with Regina List (Taylor & Francis); and co-edited the first international encyclopedia on civil society and nonprofits.