Vera Neisen studied geography, sociology, and business at the University of Trier, the Complutense University of Madrid and the Humboldt University of Berlin, with a main focus on urban and social geography. As a research assistant, she was engaged in the composition of the first creative industries report for the City of Frankfurt am Main at the Department of Human Geography of the Goethe University of Frankfurt am Main. Since 2008, Vera Neisen has been working as researcher at the Institute for Economics, Labour and Culture (IWAK), where she is involved in the subject areas labour market integration of migrants and development of regional monitoring systems.