Outstanding and diverse research in the social sciences
Research profile
Research is of fundamental importance to the Protestant University of Applied Sciences (EH) Freiburg, as it enables a theory-based, systematic and critical examination of current specialist and political issues and their empirical analysis. The university’s research strength is evident in its third-party-funded research and in the publications through which its lecturers and research assistants participate in theoretical and empirical discourse.
The research activities of the teaching staff are also essential for the quality and relevance of teaching and continuing education. In its 2014 institutional reaccreditation, the German Council of Science and Humanities attested that the university’s degree programmes are consistently ‘strongly research-based’.
Since 1984, most of the research at the Protestant University of Applied Sciences has been carried out in a successful affiliated institute, initially called the Contact Point for Practice-Oriented Research, later renamed the Research and Innovation Network at the Protestant University of Applied Sciences Freiburg (FIVE). (FIVE). Professors have also carried out research projects independently of FIVE. Since 2022, all of the university’s research has been organised by the Institute for Applied Research (IAF). It is headed by the Vice-Rector for Research and Transfer, Prof. Dr. phil. Fabian Frank. The IAF office is a service facility for all researchers at the university.
Research at EH Freiburg is characterised by its interdisciplinarity. This can be illustrated by the research focus on childhood education (early childhood education), which is represented on the research map of the HRK – German Rectors’ Conference. Leading professorships in this research focus come from the following disciplines: early childhood education, psychology, social work. Staff members represent disciplines such as educational science, psychology, childhood education and social work.
With a centre of excellence for gender-based violence, equipped with two professorships focusing on this area, the university has a strong academic profile in gender studies. In addition, the university works on an interdisciplinary basis on research topics that are virulent worldwide: for example, right-wing extremism and right-wing populism, migration and racism, anti-Semitism, sustainability, demographic change, peace research (especially through the university’s Peace Institute), health and health services research.