The Institute for Social Work and Social Policy is dedicated in teaching and research to the analysis and reflection of challenges and opportunities that arise for people in their everyday life worlds within the context of modern societies. In doing so, we focus on the possibilities for shaping social realities through socio-pedagogical interventions in education, learning, and support within the field of social work, as well as on social policy interventions more broadly.

Our aim is to describe social issues and problems, to understand their significance for the people affected, to explain their causes, and to provide both foundational knowledge and practice-oriented knowledge for social work and social policy. To this end, we rely on theoretical and conceptual work as well as empirical research. This includes both basic research projects and applied research. Our approach is interdisciplinary: expertise from social pedagogy, sociology, political science, as well as legal and administrative studies is brought together to focus on the social and its malleability through social work and social policy. Our research is rooted locally while also being oriented nationally and internationally. Through our projects—which are often conducted in cooperation with practice partners and in dialogue with the public—we contribute both to internationally visible basic research and to addressing concrete societal challenges.

As one of the few university-based institutes for social work in Germany, we are responsible for both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree program in social work. With more than 800 students, we are among the largest university locations for the study of social work in the Federal Republic of Germany. Here, too, “understanding and shaping the social” is central. Students become familiar with theories and methods that enable them to understand people’s lives—and the everyday difficulties and challenges embedded within them—within their societal context. Based on these processes of understanding, and against the backdrop of theories, concepts, and methods of professional practice, ideas for shaping the social can be developed. Accordingly, the focus is both on analyses of societal conditions and on considerations regarding the implementation of educational, learning, and support services that are intended to enable people to cope with their own lives. In this way, our students are prepared to contribute to shaping the social in their future fields of practice in social work.

Key research contributions also emerge from doctoral projects. As a university-based research institution, the institute offers the opportunity to pursue a doctorate in social work. Beyond individual doctoral projects, members of the institute have repeatedly succeeded in securing doctoral research groups in the past, in which doctoral researchers were supported through scholarships. In this way, the institute makes an important contribution to fostering the next generation of scholars in social work.

The institute is governed by a seven-member Institute Council. Its current members are: Lukas van Briel (technical and administrative staff), Helen Dambach (academic staff), Seda Kocapınar (student representative), Prof. Dr. Simone Leiber, Prof. Dr. Holger Schoneville, Prof. Dr. Nina Thieme, and Prof. Dr. Jan Wehrheim.

The institute is led by Prof. Dr. Jan Wehrheim (Director) and Prof. Dr. Nina Thieme (Deputy Director).