The Colloquium on Personnel Economics (COPE) started as an annual conference of German-speaking personnel economists in 1998 and transformed into an international conference in 2010, hosting international researchers working in personnel economics, and very frequently in education economics. The Colloquium was established in 1998 by Prof. Dr. Uschi Backes-Gellner and Prof. Dr. Matthias Kräkel. Over the years the organizing team has been extended and changed. As of 2014, the core organizing team consists of Prof. Dr. Uschi Backes-Gellner, Zurich University, Prof. Dr. Alex Bryson, UC London, Prof. Dr. Oliver Fabel, Vienna University, and Prof. Dr. Kerstin Pull, Tuebingen University.