In 1999 the four social scientists, Dr. Kerstin Dressel, Sylvia Lustig, Astrid Manstetten und Prof. Dr. Patricia Pfeil 1999 in Munich have found the South German Institute of Empirical Social Research.
After a change in 2003 the institute is since then managed by Dr. Kerstin Dressel, Dr. Marion Müller, Prof. Dr. Patricia Pfeil and Dipl.-Soz. Lisa Donath. The same team also founded in 2010 the SINE-Institute gGmbH.