Iris Würbel

PhD Candidate/Researcher
Room JK 24/234
14195 Berlin
Short-Vita |
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01/2022-02/2023 |
Parental leave |
10/2021 | Research and teaching stay, Department of Social Sciences – Childhood and Youth Studies, University College Cork, Irland |
since 03/2019 | Research Associate at the Devision of General Education, Freie Universität Berlin |
10/2018 - 01/2019 |
Employee in the project "Intercultural Opening of the Administration within the Destrict of Lichtenberg", DESI institute, Berlin |
10/2015 - 09/2018 |
Master studies of educational sciences, Freie Universität Berlin |
04/2016 - 09/2018 |
Student employee in the division "Cross-Cultural Developmental Psychology", Free University Berlin; |
04/2014 - 08/2015 |
Junior-Expert for social-scientific accompanying research (quantitative and qualitative methods), InnoZ GmbH, Berlin |
10/2009 - 04/2014 |
Bachelor studies of organizational psychology and human resources, Harz University of Applied Sciences, Wernigerode |
Memberships and university tasks |
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Membership CUWB (Children's Understanding of Well-Being) Network Membership German Educational Research Association (GERA) | Deutsche Gesellschaft für Erziehungswissenschaft (DGfE) |
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07/2019 - continuing | Member in the examination board of the Master study program of educational sciences as a representative of academic staff interests, Freie Universität Berlin |
04/2017 - 09/2018 | Member in the examination board of the Master study program of educational sciences as a representative of students´ interests, Freie Universität Berlin |
02/2017 - 07/2017 |
Students´ representative in the appointment commitee for the W1 professorship of Early Childhood Educational Studies, Freie Universität Berlin |
for more information about teaching in the current term click here and then "Lehre" (German)
Dissertation project by Iris Würbel
Childhoods in Societal Crises: A Multi-Method/Multi-Data Study within Crisis Research Focused on Children’s Subjective Well-Being
Following recent sociological diagnoses, it is continuing change (Rosa, 2014), global risks, and a reflexive interaction of uncertainties and opportunities (Beck, 2009; Giddens, 1994) that shape today’s societies. According to this and due to the recent severe societal crises, social cohesion, defined as “the capacity of a society to ensure the well-being of all its members, minimising disparities and avoiding marginalisation” (Europe, 2008), seems to be at stake in reflexive modern societies. The European Council sets, among other things, the reduction of exclusion and inequalities and trust among individuals of society as preconditions for social cohesion (ibid.; see also Putnam, 1995).
These contemporary societal diagnoses, together with acute societal crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic beginning in 2020 and the so-called refugee crisis in Europe since 2015, seem to come with now unforeseeable implications not only for adults but also for children.
Recent research, for instance, targets the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the possible reorganisation of schools in the future (Brown, 2020), the impact of COVID-19-related school closures on children’s health (Rundle et al., 2020), and parents’ experiences with home schooling during national lockdowns (Andresen et al., 2020). Furthermore, there is research on the challenges faced by education systems in integrating refugee children (Borgonovi, Piacentini, & Schleicher, 2019), as well as the potential of education to overcome societal inequality in the context of forced migration (Fouskas, 2019).
However, the specific experiences and perspectives of children during these societal crises remain unknown. The dissertation project draws on the aforementioned contemporary diagnoses and desiderata, framing them in relation to a crisis research that is focused on children and their subjective well-being (in line with Grimm, Ertugrul, & Bauer, 2020).
An interdisciplinary (in line with Levine, 1956; Backman, 1983) multi-method/multi-data approach (Flick, 2011) is applied to investigate children’s experiences and coping mechanisms during acute crises. The specific research questions are: (1) Which intergroup attitudes and perceptions of group variability shape children’s views of “refugee children”? (2) Which dimensions shape children’s subjective well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic? (3) What aspects construct children’s spaces of well-being during the pandemic?
The empirical basis for the project consists of data from two studies. The first quantitative study addresses research question 1 through a structured interview approach with 5- to 6-year-olds. The results have already been published (Würbel & Kanngießer, 2022). The second exploratory-qualitative study addresses research questions 2 and 3 through child-centred, participatory-oriented interviews and a photo-voice task with 7- to 9-year-olds (Horgan, 2017). The results of the second study will be published in 2025 and 2026, respectively.
2023
Würbel, I. & Kanngiesser, P. (2023). Pre-schoolers’ images, intergroup attitudes, and liking of refugee peers in Germany. PloS One, 18(2), e0280759–e0280759. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0280759
2022
Bormann, I.; Niedlich, S. & Würbel, I. (2022). Trust in Educational Settings-What It Is and Why It Matters. European Perspectives. European Education, 53(3-4), 121–136. https://doi.org/10.1080/10564934.2022.2080564