We mourn the passing of Professor Ellu Saar

Elle Saar, Professor of Sociology at Tallinn University, had been associated with 3s for almost 20 years. It is with deep sadness that we share the news of her passing.

Ellu Saar (1955–2024) was an expert in lifelong learning, education, and social stra­ti­fi­ca­ti­on and a valued colleague in various projects. Her research and teaching have shaped the field of skills research and inspired new gene­ra­ti­ons of sociologists.

Jörg Markowitsch remembers well how the coope­ra­ti­on with Ellu Saar started: “I first met Ellu in 2004 when she invited me to coor­di­na­te a sub­pro­ject on training in enter­pri­se within her project “LLL2010: Lifelong Learning 2010 — Towards a Lifelong Society in Europe: The Contribution of the Education System”. It was not only the first European Commission Framework Programme project in the social sciences led by an Eastern European partner, it was also my first project in the Framework Programme; and the basis of the PhD thesis of our colleague Günter Hefler. Since then, almost 20 years by now, I have been working with Ellu regularly on com­pa­ra­ti­ve research projects. We always held each other in high esteem, both pro­fes­sio­nal­ly and per­so­nal­ly, and that’s exactly how I feel now: a great rese­ar­cher and good friend is no more.”

Please visit the Tallin University website for more infor­ma­ti­on about Professor Saar’s life and con­tri­bu­ti­on to research and society.