Born 1960 in the town of Sande. Law studies at the Julius-Maximilians-Universität in Würzburg and at the European University Institute in Florence. First state law examination in 1984; second state law examination in 1989. Attainment of Dr. iur. utr. degree at the University of Würzburg in 1989; diploma on comparative European and international law studies (LL.M.) from the European University Institute in 1991. Scholarship from the Fritz Thyssen Foundation from 1991 to 1994. Habilitation (qualification as a university lecturer) through the Faculty of Law at the University of Würzburg in 1994. Deputy chairs at the universities of Regensburg and Greifswald. From April 1996 to August 2002, full professor at the University of Regensburg and holder of the chair for "Public Law; German and European Social Law", since October 2002, honorary professor at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich. Emile Noël Fellow at Harvard Law School from 11/1999 to 2/2000. Since 2002 director at the Max Planck Institue for Social Law and Social Policy. Becker is a member of the Academia Europaea.