Curriculum

Through constant quality assurance and evaluation of our program with our students, graduates and lecturers, the curriculum is both programmed to provide a profund theoretical-methodological focus on research towards the application of practical skills, and to suit professional perspectives on the job market.

Structure

The modules are organized in blocks as our lecturers are not all based in Berlin but come from our internationally renowned partner universities in Sweden, Scotland and Slovenia.

In the first two semesters, our program consists of two weeks classroom teaching and two weeks virtual blended e-learning. Following the third semester, students can choose between different elective compulsory classes from the B and C modules that are held in one week in class teaching and one week e-facilitated teaching.

The fourth semester is dedicated to the conceptualization and realization of a practical or research-based project linked to the issue of social work and human rights, as well as to the elaboration of the master's thesis.

Upon request and if advisable from an academic point of view, the Master thesis can also be postponed to a fifth semester. In either case, the research and writing of the final thesis will be completed over a period of one semester. 

Modules

These modules are compulsory for all students.

A - Social Work and Human Rights (15 ECTS) 

The integration of human rights as a regulative idea in the discipline and profession of social work:

  • the history of social work and human rights in theory, international documents, and practice
  • pioneers and key contributors to the theory and praxis of social work worldwide
  • the triple mandate of social work
  • philosophical foundations: human dignity, human rights and social justice as core dimensions of social work
  • social rights and social policy
  • the identification and analysis of human rights violations
  • normative (ethical) perspectives on social work
  • action guidelines and methods of social work for the implementation of human rights  

A - International Law: A Social Work Perspective (15 ECTS) 

This module is concerned with the significance of international law for social work both on national and international level. In this context the question is raised how social work is affected when conflicts and violations are discussed in terms of human rights. Critical issues including vulnerable groups and relations between the Global North/Minority World and Global South/Majority World, globalization and the legitimacy of the United Nations and other international legal institutions are studied from a socio-legal perspective. The course also examines the theories, the UN mechanisms and institutionalized practices of human rights and the significance of human rights politics for the structure of social work on a national and international level. The aim is to be able to contextualize, analyze, evaluate, and apply various concepts of human rights. The concepts of international law, its legitimacy, subjects, and sources as well as selected aspects of enforcement of human rights protection under international law essential for vulnerable groups will be addressed. 

A - Global Social Work (15 ECTS) 

The main thematic fields to be discussed include:

  • global policy issues: the globalization of social justice, of democracy, social policy and the role of human rights for and in these debates;
  • power structures and actors in world society
  • globalization of progressive social movements – especially human rights informed movements
  • global environmental justice
  • the role of Europe and Europe-originated ideologies within world society, European colonialism and Eurocentrism.  

A - Critical Social Science Research (15 ECTS) 

The course covers different qualitative and quantitative social science research methods, as well as mixed method approaches. It addresses the key dimensions of research design, research ethics, critical research thinking, and the use of the comparative approaches in social sciences within the international setting.

Unit I: Qualitative Research Methods

  • Research design, conceptual mapping and grounded theory
  • Data collection and analysis through interviews, focus groups, and case studies 
  • Action research, Participatory action research 
  • Ethnography and ethnographic methods, text analysis fieldwork, field notes, writing diary, visual methodologies
  • Evaluation in social sciences and the use of mixed methods
  • Doing historical research in social work
  • Ethical considerations; doing research with people in vulnerable contexts
  • Intersectional, postcolonial, ecological, feminist, poststructural perspectives in interpreting research data.

Unit II: Quantitative Research Methods 

  • quantitative data collection methods: quantitative research designs, secondary data analysis; mixed methods
  • quality in quantitative data
  • descriptive and inference statistics
  • quantitative analysis methods: significance tests, predictive statistics (regression models), classifying statistics (cluster analysis and factor analysis) 

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Students select a minimum of two out of five offered modules.

B - Health and Human Rights in Social Work (7.5 ECTS)

This module discusses health as an issue of social inequalities and utilizes an intersectional perspective to show how inequalities get reflected in the health of individuals, groups, and communities. Apart from analysing and comparing the violation of health rights in different countries and social contexts as well as some ethical considerations, the course outlines strategies of successful access to the right to health. Social work is assigned to play an important role in the process of access to the right to health, health service delivery or health related social policies. The role of social workers as advocates, mobilisers of communities and social workers’ interventions as counsellors of the traumatized will be examined and highlighted. Fundamental concepts related to health and social inequalities such as resilience, recovery, and the life course perspective will be contextualized and discussed from a global perspective. Human rights are relevant to many health issues, like access to information and education on health, drugs and harm reduction, immunization, sexual and reproductive health, mental health etc. Particular attention will be paid to the health of marginalized and vulnerable groups, especially in the context of environmental disasters and environmental justice.

B - Migration and Racism (7.5 ECTS) 

The prioritisation of immigration in the political agenda of many governments and international organizations worldwide has yielded the adoption of social policies, laws and practices that are at odds with the ethical and universal premise of human rights. In theory, international and regional human rights instruments confer rights on all human beings, including migrants. Yet, human rights regimes continue to struggle to extend protections to migrants. Tensions, at times acute, exist between human rights protection and the exercise of the state’s right to control immigration. Engaging with these tensions provides students with a valuable insight into the relationship between human right and social work in relation to migrants, especially those with a precarious immigration status, and understand the role that human rights can play in shaping social work services and practice as well as its limitations. 

Racism and other forms of discrimination and human rights violations shape the everyday lives of users of social work services in a variety of ways. It is thus critical that social workers gain an understanding of the discrimination and marginalisation processes within society that lead to racism if they are to identify and respond to different articulations of racist practices. The module provides students with an analytical framework to investigate the mechanisms of racism and ways of intervening against racism as well as examine how racism manifests itself in social work.

B - Economic Justice, Empowerment and Resilience (7.5 ECTS) 

Faced with unceasing socio-economic inequalities both within and across countries, exacerbated by daunting projections of ecological crisis and the rise of anti-democratic regimes all around the world, it is timely to question some of the core political economy premises of our times and to explore how individuals and communities can actively contribute to economic justice, empowerment, and resilience. The course addresses critical questions, such as what it means:

  • to be (formally) equal amidst steep material inequalities, poverty and social exclusion
  • to experience the economy as a sphere where people have little influence but bear large costs
  • to maintain a standard of living at the expense of others (both human and non-human)

The course aims at critically rethinking our understanding of the economy as dominated by market forces, private property, the state and capitalist corporations. It explores how the recognition and valuing diverse economic practices, subjects, spaces, and trajectories based on the principles of commons and solidarity economies can enhance community economic empowerment, ecological resilience, equity and well-being from the local to the global level. 

B - Gender and Human Rights (7.5 ECTS)

The module will give a global and a comparative perspective on gender and diversity as human rights issues and will analyze them within the framework of social work and social policy discipline. Topics include:

  • gender, sexuality, intersectionality, queer and transgender theories from a historic perspective;
  • commonalities and differences in ideas and movements in feminisms, women’s struggles, LGBTI+ activism advocacy (also via diverse authors, pioneers, and advocates);
  • Theories of gendered violence, the role of social norms; social policies, social work responses and social movement struggles;
  • reproductive rights of women and transgender people;
  • confluent love, LGBTI+ families, social parenthood;
  • gender inequalities in the area of paid and unpaid work; global chains of care work; 
  • the effects of gendered inequalities on health and mental health
  • women on the margin: disability people’s movement and the voices of women, gender and disability
  • the ethics of care and social policies;
  • feminist leadership and social activism. 

B - Children’s Rights (7.5 ECTS) 

The module is concerned with the significance of children’s rights for social work practice from a global perspective. The module covers:

  • a short history of the development of the UNCR emphasizing children as right holders and adults/ professionals/ organizations and governments as duty bearers; It will consider whether the CRC is a ‘western’ construct (despite universal approval), and the challenge posed to notions of individual children’s rights by tradition, culture and religion.
  • philosophical discourses on rights and childhood including protectionists and liberationist notions of childhood and engaging students in discussion on empowerment and participation versus vulnerability, protection. This should also include a debate on rights versus responsibilities taking into consideration cultural contexts and environment; 
  • global perspectives on children’s full and meaningful participation including good practice examples and constraints/challenges; students will engage with specific social work examples of ‘moral dilemmas’ where they have to decide between cultural norms or adherence to universal rights
  • the magnitude of violence against children within a global context and prevention of violence
  • the relevance of the provision, participation and protection and the key principles of the UNCRC for social work decision making; challenges of children’s rights versus parental/adult and community rights and authority.  

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Students select a minimum of two out of four offered modules.

C - Human Rights Education (7.5 ECTS)

Human rights education is one of the most important instruments for developing a hands-on perspective on human rights, i.e., to point out their relevance for the everyday life of individuals in general, and of vulnerable groups in particular. Typical settings for human rights education include schools, adult education, and informal education. Starting with the Vienna World Conference on Human Rights in 1993 and the UN Decade for Human Rights Education, occupations and professions are also being addressed both with regard to the practical implementation of human rights and to human rights education in their fields of action. 

C - Critical Approaches to Human Rights Practice in Social Work (7.5 ECTS) 

This course critically discusses the entanglements of Human Rights and Social Work in a global setting. The focus is on genderrelated social work, development and migration. With case studies from around the world, discourses, legislations and institutions that promote and secure human rights in national settings are examined in relation to colonial relations and global power inequalities. While introducing theoretical interventions, the course also offers students a large number and variety of examples to engage with.

C - Human Rights in the Context of Organisational Development/Innovation (7.5 ECTS)

This is an evolving module and based on co-design, i.e. students play an active part in shaping it. Guided by lecturers, students apply theoretical knowledge from the realms of organizational theory and new institutionalism and reflect on the process of the team-building and intervention itself. The students, as a group, work on a form of practical intervention with regard to an organization and/or social workers interested in introducing a human rights based approach into their own practice. Apart from contact with practitioners students will also practice and improve professional skills such as project management, presenting, communicating and team working.

C - Advocacy for Human Rights: Lobby and Communication Strategies (7.5 ECTS)

Social workers are increasingly dealing with service users who do not have the “right to have rights” (Hannah Arendt). Advocacy for social change through methods such as lobbying, media interventions, social advertising and campaigning are required to insure that issues of vulnerable groups can be addressed at the structural level, and also made visible in public debates. A critical and research-based presence of social work issues in the public field requires “classical” public relations skills, but also new forms of public interventions such as adbusting or the use of social media and the organization of public and/ or parliamentarian hearings.

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This module is compulsory for all students.

In this module, students gain hands on experience in applying a human rights perspective to a concrete field of social work. Their work is guided by a precise, theoretically embedded research objective and they use the knowledge and skills acquired through their coursework to implement their praxis project.

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This module is compulsory for all students.

The thesis is a central element of the MA-SWHR. In keeping with the research-oriented focus of the program, students are required to write a 15,000 words (+/- 10%) thesis based on empirical investigation, which accounts for a total of 15 ECTS credits. The thesis must relate to the substantive issues of the course, using the scientific research methods taught. Independent research and writing of the MA thesis under the guidance of two advisors, students have 25 weeks to work on the MA thesis. For theses based on empirical research, the length of time is 30 weeks.

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Human Rights Praxis Project

Within the time frame of one semester, the students realize and develop their Human Rights Praxis Project that is linked to the issue of social work and human rights. With the expertise and guidance of lecturers from our Master program (and, or professional experts and contact persons of a practical field), students are encouraged to independently acquire additional methodical knowledge in their field of interest, and critically reflect and justify their strategies.

Abstracts from Previous Human Rights Praxis Projects

Adam, Rimna ; Asselin-Roy,  Maria ; Steinberg, Bex

I Made it Myself: Empowerment through Community Based Open Art Events

Ariza Cárdenas, Camila

Nannies and Babysitters: workers of the reproductive labor system in Berlin. Re-thinking care work.

Brisson, Chrystel (available upon request for students and graduates of MA-SWHR as well as for general public access; alumni can be contacted upon request)

Voices of International Students at ASH

Brossel, Courtney; James, Anna; Grethe, Johanna

Gender-Based Street Harassment: Body Mapping and Empowerment Workshop

Choi, Jungsik

Linguistic integration of migrants explored through Language cafe in Bremerhaven

Dolan, Jessica

Designing for change: a collaborative ethnographic reflection on the visual arts project 'Parcours der Veränderung’

Ellis, Hannah (available upon request for students and graduates of MA-SWHR as well as for general public access; alumni can be contacted upon request)

Zine-Making Workshop: A Grassroots Approach to Educating Queer Youth about their Right to Mental Health in Berlin

Gross, David

Teaching Art-Based Psychosocial Activities in Uganda

Mutebi, Edward (available upon request for students and graduates of MA-SWHR as well as for general public access; alumni can be contacted upon request)

QUEER REFUGEE AND ASYLUM SEEKERS MENTAL HEALTH WORKSHOP REPORT

Ramamurthy, Sai Krishna

Health Education for Adolescent Refugees: Towards Tobacco Cessation

Rizopoulou, Lefkothea

"NOT JUST A PRIVATE ISSUE": WORKSHOP ON WOMXN'* AND GBV SURVIVORS' RIGHTS IN ARGOS ORESTIKO, GREECE 

Rojas Endress, Francisca & Tipping, Patrick

Citizen’s Rights when being stopped by the Police - Creating accessible information card

Rojas Trejo, Francisco Javier (available upon request for students and graduates of MA-SWHR as well as for general public access; alumni can be contacted upon request)

Performing Arts Festival "Entre Lenchas, Vestidas y Musculocas": A Human Rights Approach with an Intersectional Perspective

Sakhi, Sara (available upon request for students and graduates of MA-SWHR as well as for general public access; alumni can be contacted upon request)

Human Rights Approaches in the Absence of Human Rights: a Case Study of Social Workers in Lebanon’s Palestinian Camps

Semer, Francesca

"Powerful together. The story of Carlotta & Esra” A Children's Book Embracing Diversity and Empowerment"

Wolde, Tewodros
THE PRACTICE OF BEST INTEREST PRINCIPLE IN CHILD REUNIFICATION PROGRAM OF STREET CHILDREN IN ADDIS ABABA.

Abebe, Hailu (available upon request for students and graduates of MA-SWHR as well as for general public access; alumni can be contacted upon request)

The CRC in Promoting Children’s Rights Assessing Institutional Capacity in Benishangul Regional State, Western Ethiopia

Ackerman, Anna & Farahmand, Mubaraka & Hajizade, Ziaulhaq 

Action Based Workshops on Domestic Safety & Violence Prevention

Afrin, Rifat (available upon request for students and graduates of MA-SWHR as well as for general public access; alumni can be contacted upon request)

The right to employment: Develop a platform for the Transgender (Hijra) to strengthening the community 

Allman, Betsy (available upon request for students and graduates of MA-SWHR but not for general public access; alumni can be contacted upon request)

Creating “The Sprout”: A Radical Picture Book for Young Critical Thinkers

Bitew, Endeshaw

Promoting Children’s Rights in Schools through Integrating Human Rights-Based Approach into Social Work Field Education and Practice: The Case of Social Work Department, University of Gondar, Ethiopia

Blum, Robert & Schramm, Lea

The impact of climate change on the Social Work profession in Germany -  A podcast on transforming Eco-Social Work theory into practice

Courville, Sarah

Queering Harm Reduction: Generating a Grassroots Drug Education Curriculum in the Pursuit of Queer Futurity 

Cornilius Refem, Fogha Mc

The Voices Of Silence: Decolonising social work education and practice

Demelash, Melaku

Assessing the Lived Experiences of Ethiopian Women Migrant Returnees from Middle East and/or Gulf State Countries. Ensuring psychosocial supports and Re-integration Services

Dunschen, Clemens

Professional Disobedience in the Work with Refugees

Garcia, Yasmin

Situated Knowledge - A Workshop

Hassan, Mohammed

Human Rights Curriculums for the Sudanese Neighbourhood Resistance Committees in Khartoum (as a pilot project)

Lachore, Wondemagegnehu (available upon request for students and graduates of MA-SWHR as well as for general public access; alumni can be contacted upon request)

Promote participation of Children with disabilities in School Activities: the case of Hawassa Haike Primary school in Ethiopia

Moltrer, Sebastiano (available upon request for students and graduates of MA-SWHR as well as for general public access; alumni can be contacted upon request)

What if every city corner was edible? Advocacy and Lobby Work towards integrating Edible City Solutions (ECS) for socially resilient and sustainably productive cities.

Mubarak, Fatimah

Exploring the Feminist Conciousness of Saudi Women in relation to Opression

N.N.

Grassroots capacity building: Designing a reporting mechanism for volunteers working in a grassroots organisation 

N.N.

Participatory Action Research with the Corona Lager Reports from the Break Isolation Group (BIG) of International Women* Space (IWS)

Paul, Meera

A Study on: Retaliation of Indian Farmers and their concerned Human Rights

Staudacher, Rune (alumni can be contacted upon request)

System-Relevancy on an abandoned post - Frontline Social Work and the Coronavirus Pandemic

Steffen, Lili 

Demystifying Self-Managed Abortion Care: A Human Rights-Based Approach to Busting Stigma and Increasing Awareness With the Help of a Chatbot 

Taherkouhestani, Elaheh

Gender Equality for Female Persian Group in Berlin/Marzahn-Hellersdorf with a Focus on the Impact of Covid-19

Taylor, Christopher

Exploratory Pedagogy in Kreuzberg: Critically Examining Gender Socialization

 

Abebe, Hailu Kibret (available upon request for students and graduates of MA-SWHR as well as for general public access; alumni can be contacted upon request)

The CRC in Promoring Children´s Right: Assessing Institutional Capacity in Benishangul-Gumuz, Regional State, Western Ethiopia

Adwan, Dima & Riding, Sophie (available upon request for students and graduates of MA-SWHR as well as for general public access; alumni can be contacted upon request)

 The Girl's Club 

Anusi, Doris Dorathy (available upon request for students and graduates of MA-SWHR as well as for general public acces; alumni can be contacted upon requests)

Empowering Community Leaders in Gofye Community, Kuje Area Council, Abuja, Nigeria to Prevent Child Marriage

Aulenbacher, Leonie & Esau, Katharina (available upon request for students and graduates of MA-SWHR as well as for general public access; alumni can be contacted upon request)

 Assessing access and availability of adequate services around women*’s sexual and reproductive health rights in Berlin 

Campbell, Tori (available upon request for students and graduates of MA-SWHR as well as for general public access; alumni can be contacted upon request)

How is a Berlin based voluntary organisation attempting to provide integration of refugees through the means of a local meeting place? 

Fowler, Fiona (available upon request for students and graduates of MA-SWHR as well as for general public access; alumni can be contacted upon request)

The right to health, bodywork, and HTLV-1 

Houeiss, Jad

The Scouts Club: Online interactions during the times of Covid 19

Meilin, Nitzan (available upon request for students and graduates of MA-SWHR as well as for general public access; alumni can be contacted upon request)

Helpline for the Israeli Migrant Community in Berlin 

Mieser, Audrey (alumni can be contacted upon request)

Socially Distanced: How the COVID-19 Pandemic Impacted Berlin’s Homeless Population

Otto, Melinda (available upon request for students and graduates of MA-SWHR; alumni can be contacted upon request)

The right to education: Developing an educational program for irregular immigrants' children living in informal settlements who do not attend school. A case study of Caleb Motshabi, South Africa. 

Owusu, Bright Yeboah (available upon request for students and graduates of MA-SWHR as well as for general public access; alumni can be contacted upon request)

Human Rights and Child Labour Issues in Ghana: A Case Study along the Volta Lake

Schmid, Jennifer (alumni can be contacted upon request)

 "Wir gegen Corona" - A Platform for Cooperation, Solidarity and Cohesion in the Time of Coronavirus. 

Schmiegel, Louisa (available upon request for students and graduates of MA-SWHR as well as for general public access; alumni can be contacted upon request)

 Assessment on the access to clean, safe (drinking) water (Sustainable Developement Goal 6) for residents in the township Khayelitsha

Teferi, Tsedeniya Z. (alumni can be contacted upon request)

Human Rights Education for Children: A Participatory Approach.

Tibbetts, Joel

The Universal Basic Income and Mental Health in Australia. An Awareness Raising Campaign Plan.

Waldow Stock, Stephanie C. (available upon request for students and graduates of MA-SWHR as well as for general public access; alumni can be contacted upon request)

Human Rights Workships within the Volunteer Training Programme of the Organization EBM International.

Ararsa, Metti Dibaba

"Yene-Raey": Advancing Children's Wellbeing and Gender Equality of Adolescent Girls Through Integrated Program Approach

Bischof, Natalie 

The children's right for education in ANKER centres in Bavaria. A concept paper how good and qualified school education could be done for children living in ANKER centres in Bavaria.

Chase, Sophie

The development of a resource to aid the teaching of SRE to young people in England: An informative Porn Magazine

Diangha, Mabel (available upon request for students and graduates of MA-SWHR as well as for general public access; alumni can be contacted upon request)

Drug Dealing (misuse and trade) amongst African Asylum seekers in Görlitzer Park, Berlin. 

Friesenhahn, Marie

Psychosocial Support for Syrian and Iraqi Refugees. Capacity Development and Trainings on Psychosocial Support in the Middle East

Guglielmini, Cristina (available upon request for students and graduates of MA-SWHR; alumni can be contacted upon request)

Monitoring Violence at Checkpoints and in Detention - A Gender Perspective. Human Rights Violations Suffered by Palestinian Women by the Hand of Female Members of the IDF 

Johannes, Rebekka

Psychosocial Support of caregivers of persons with mental disabilities

Kumonik, Mure Moses Waigo

Prevention of Abuse, Exploitation and Rehabilitation of Street Children at Rumbek twon, South Sudan

Ladu, Lokudu Cosmas Ponsiano

Mobilising and engaging men to prevent domestic violence

Lawanson, Segun

HUMAN RIGHT EDUCATION FOR THE ROMA CHILD.

Lee, Abriel

Interviews with Thai Women Assisting Thai Women in Europe

Lee, Jennifer

Hows Schools Measure Success and the Psychosocial Costs to Students (available upon request for students and graduates of MA-SWHR; alumni can be contacted upon request)

Lee, Seulbee

Participatory Action Research Project with Refugee Children Living in Berlin (available upon request for students and graduates of MA-SWHR; alumni can be contacted upon request)

Meszaros, Doris (available upon request for students and graduates of MA-SWHR as well as for general public access)

Participation of Persons With Disabilities: In Search of Good Practice. Participatory Video-Project in County Starnberg

Mulukwat, Jane Rebecca Modong

Human Rights Education and Awareness. A case study of education and awareness on child rights among the Toposa of South Sudan

Rohal, Parul

Do Indians face racism and discrimination in Germany?

Synan, Jenny & Richter, Angelina & Cook, Lindsay

Maintaining objectivity as a professional in social services

Tadesse, Michael Emru (alumni can be contacted upon request)

Efforts, Challenges and Prospects of Integrating Refugees Living in Large Accommodations in Buch Area, Berlin

Wagner, Stephanie (available upon request for students and graduates of MA-SWHR as well as for general public access; alumni can be contacted upon request))

A descriptive examination of asylum cases of trafficked women from Nigeria 

Yong, Yu Wei & Hutchings, Jennifer & Amad, Dalal

Towards Decolonizing the Master of Arts 'Social Work as a Human Rights Profession' (MA-SWHR) - Students' Experiences and Recommendations

Zeile, Agnija

The Duty of Care to the Berlin Youth in Custody

Iduoze, Evelyn Amenze

MOVING BEYOND CULTURAL PLURALISM IN ADDRESSING CHILDREN'S RIGHTS IN NIGERIA

Bugge, Marit 

Refugee Housing in Berlin: "Active" and "Cosmopolitan" Citizenship towards Social Change.

Flihan, Noor 

Psychological and Emotianal Support for Refugee Children.

Gerboc, Halle - Knox, Lisa and Rowe, Hannah (available upon request for students and graduates of MA-SWHR as well as for general public access; alumni can be contacted upon request)

La Leche League.

Kandowe, Caroline

Parental and Guardians Education on Children's Rights to Birth Registration and Identity in Rural Areas.

Klaßen, Louisa

Gender and Mental Health. A journey of personal narratives.

Mendoza, Ivis

"Sisterhood in our Student's Dorm". A Group to overcome isolation and promote women's solidarity.

Oenema, Ina

Exploring the voiceof the child in participatory research: Bodymapping and the right to participate in Dindigul, India.

Okoye, Nnamdi

The Push and Pull Migration Factors: Issues of Nigerian Assylum Seekers in Germany.

Pallam, Kettu Monica Silas 

About My Own Rights (AMOR)

Ramsay, Anne

Human Rights into Practice: The application of a Human Rights Framework within a Scottish Social Work Setting

Sabally, Demba 

Implementation of Sustainable Peace and Development Projects in the Country of Origin: From the perspective of Gambian Diaspora who are living in Norway.

Sanghvi, Poonam (available upon request for students and graduates of MA-SWHR as well as for general public access; alumni can be contacted upon request)

Women rights in India and its awareness

Smith, Charity (alumni can be contacted upon request)

Windsor Polyamory a Social Media Campaign Abstract.

Albán, Alina - Mujuru, Rufaro and Rugumambaju, Beatrice

Documentary filmmaking with victims of the Colectiv - Fire

Baldus, Lena

Self-Determination Workshop

Benjamin, Chantal 

A Look at the Social Casework of "Eingliederungshilfe"

Bischof, Jasmin 

Thesis Writing Group

Bolzman, Liat (available upon request for students and graduates of MA-SWHR as well as for general public access; alumni can be contacted upon request)

Art and Activism as tools for social change

Brulin, Lovisa 

“Vem har rätt att bli mamma?” - Who has the right to become a mother?

Gerlach, Fee 

Developing a social media-based Human Rights Education campaign

Karkoutly, Mariana (available upon request for students and graduates of MA-SWHR as well as for general public access; alumni can be contacted upon request)

Support groups with Refugees and asylum seekers in emergency camps

Keith, Catherine 

Language Learning & Social Work

Lartigue, Sarah (available upon request for students and graduates of MA-SWHR as well as for general public access; alumni can be contacted upon request)

Mobilizing Youth For Political Participation in the French Quartiers

Mbeufonjoh, Nkaminyi P. 

Saving General practitioner practice from closure and exploring the GP management Issues

Mujović, Mia (available upon request for students and graduates of MA-SWHR as well as for general public access; alumni can be contacted upon request)

Art and theatre as tools of Human Rights Education for the primary prevention of peer violence in high schools in the Republic of Serbia 

Nowak, Janine.

Internship Report: Promoted Human Rights Field by the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung in Mongolia

Roberts, Skyler 

Cyberstalking

Siddiqui, Umair 

Art and Social Change: A project for women's rights in Pakistan

Sglavo, Mariangela 

Doing memory work with Syrian activists: An autoehtnography - Self-reflections on repression, injustice, war trauma, and the struggle for freedom

Sweis, Maha

Honor Killings and Human Rights Violations in Jordan

Valladares, Berna Y.

Project: How I conducted the interviews with the street children in Casa Alianza

Aikins, Muna

Mapping Places of Empowerment and Participation for Newcomers in Berlin

Bubbelhoff, Jayda T. 

Three-part Thesis project

Chow, Hei Man V.

Moving towards children's rights: Challenges and Opportunities

Gabriel, Rhoneil G. and Haring, Lisa M. (available upon request for students and graduates of MA-SWHR as well as for general public access; alumni can be contacted upon request)

 A critical perspective towards volunteerism

Ngoumou, Laurent F. (available upon request for students and graduates of MA-SWHR as well as for general public access; alumni can be contacted upon request)

Black pride in berlin; Empowerment, Equity and Soical Justice for Black homosexulas of African Orgin; Germany

Opio, Jackson 

The Families of the Disappeared Persons in the Context of Enforced Disappearance in the Philippines

Yeboah, Josefine (available upon request for students and graduates of MA-SWHR as well as for general public access; alumni can be contacted upon request)

The Journey. The Accessibility of Human Rights (Education) Projects in Ghana. A Process of Self- Reflection.

Master Thesis

In their final phase of our program, students elaborate on their Master's Theses. Under the guidance of two academic advisors and a successful proposition of an independent research question or statement, students critically realize their writing process and conclusions.

Since the Master's program is also aimed at opening the chance of obtaining a doctorate, students have the possibility of adapting the sub-topics form compulsory and elective modules, already in view of a prospective dissertation project. In that way the Master’s thesis – at least parts of it – becomes an intermediate step towards the doctorate.

Access | Copies of Master's theses can be found in the ASH Berlin library.

Abstracts from Previous Master Theses

Adam, Rimna-Nahed

Challenging Coloniality of Power and Knowledge: An Exploration of Emancipatory Approaches in Social Work Practice

Bitew, Endeshaw Aynetu (available upon request for students and graduates of MA-SWHR; alumni can be contacted upon request)

Examining Integration of Human Rights on Social Work Education and Practice: Perspective of Social Work Students and Practitioners in Ethiopia

Brisson, Chrystel (available upon request for students and graduates of MA-SWHR as well as for general public access; alumni can be contacted upon request)

PROTECTION VERSUS SELF-DETERMINATION: Implications of Mandatory Intimate Partner Violence Policies in Quebec

Choi, Jungsik

Re-conceptualisation of linguistic integration of migrants: (non)colonial context of integration through language drawn upon the comparison between Germany and the UK

Eissa, Mohamed

SHAPE THEM IN OUR IMAGE

ISLAMIC RADICALISATION PREVENTION AND CULTURAL HEGEMONY

Ellis, Hannah (available upon request for students and graduates of MA-SWHR; alumni can be contacted upon request)

The Role of Social Services in Supporting LGBTIQ Migrants - A Queer, Decolonial Approach.

Gonner, Olivier-Pascal

GRASSROOTS ACTIVISM AND ADVOCACY EFFORTS TO END PUSHBACKS AND SUPPORT PEOPLE ON THE MOVE AT THE BOSNIAN-CROATIAN BORDERLANDS

Mubarak, Fatimah

After 2018 Law, to what Extent are Saudi Women and Girls Free to Choose not to Wear the Hijab

Mutebi, Edward (available upon request for students and graduates of MA-SWHR as well as for general public access; alumni can be contacted upon request)

FORCED ANAL EXAMINATION AS A PUSH FACTOR AND GROUNDED REASON FOR APPLYING FOR ASYLUM FOR LGBTIQ MIGRANTS

Paul, Meera

ICDS schemes for adolescent girls- A case study on the effectiveness of ICDS schemes for adolescent girls with reference to Kodassery Panchayath

Ramamurthy, Sai Krishna

A study on Racial Discrimination faced by Persons of Color social work professionals in Berlin from service users

Rizopoulou, Lefkothea

The radicalization of social work practice with refugees in Greece. Frontline experiences from the public and NGO sectors

Rojas Trejo, Francisco Javier (available upon request for students and graduates of MA-SWHR as well as for general public access; alumni can be contacted upon request)

The Role of the Social Worker as a Creator of Cultural Public Policies An Analysis of the Policies of the Humboldt Forum in Berlin from a Decolonial  Perspective

Semer, Francesca

An assessment of the implementation of Article 9 ''The right to accessibility'' of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Evaluation of the experiences of young adults with physical disabilities in regard to the accessibility of public facilities in Berlin

 

 

 

Ackerman, Anna (available upon request for students and graduates of MA-SWHR as well as for general public access; alumni can be contacted upon request)

Barbershops and Salons: An Investigation Into the Benefits and Dangers of ‘Male-Only’ and ‘Female-Only’ Spaces

Agwu, Ugochukwu

Reconstruction of Health Care System in Africa: Exploring the Medical Pluralism Approach in the Prevention and Treatment of Clinical Illnesses in Zambia

Allman, Betsy (available upon request for students and graduates of MA-SWHR; alumni can be contacted)

Playing with Power: Structural Racism, Constructions of Childhood, and Pedagogies of Resistance in Early Childhood Education

Blum, Robert

WHO CARES? SOCIAL WORK IN THE CONTEXT OF CLIMATE CRISIS IN GERMANY: A PRELIMINARY EXPLORATION OF PRACTITIONERS PERSPECTIVES

Courville, Sarah

Regulatory Harm Reduction Discourses in Contemporary International Drug Control: Evaluating the compatibility of decriminalization and legalization within a human rights- and health-based framework

Cornilius Refem, Fogha Mc

A Self Redemptive Professional Suicide: A Case For Decolonising Social Work

Demelash, Melaku

Women in Exile: A Phenomenological Study exploring the lived Experiences of Ethiopian Women who had irregularly migrated and lived in the Middle East and/or Gulf- State Countries, and, are currently living in Germany

Garcia, Yasmin (available upon request for students and graduates of MA-SWHR as well as for general public access; alumni can be contacted upon request)

A study on the impact of socio-environmental variables and the COVID-19 vaccine within a refugee population in Germany

Hassan, Mohammed

Assessing the Human Rights Situation of Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) in Kalma Camp, Darfur, Sudan After the Withdrawal of African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur UNAMID

Hajizade, Ziaulhaq

Comparison of Domestic Violence Legislation in Afghanistan (EVAW Law) versus Legislation in Pakistan, and Indonesia, where gender - based violence prevention has been successful upon legal implementation

Kamwar, Ahmad Ramish

Mental Distress among Afghan Refugees in Germany: A Qualitative Study

Kranjec, Julija (available upon request for students and graduates of MA-SWHR as well as for general public access; alumni can be contacted upon request)

CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE SOCIAL WORK PROFESSION’S RESPONSE TO REFUGEES’ AND OTHER MIGRANTS’ HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATION AT THE CROATIAN BORDER

Moltrer, Sebastiano (available upon request for students and graduates of MA-SWHR as well as for general public access; alumni can be contacted upon request)

Walking the ambivalences of commoning: An explora(c)tion of the decolonial option toward the re-existence of submerged subjectivities and the pluriverse in urban commons

Nasr, Sahra

THE CONTRIBUTION AND IMPACT OF WOMEN’S ACTIVISM IN THE SWANA REGION: USING EXAMPLES FROM SUDAN, SYRIA AND TUNISIA

Schramm, Lea Raphaela

I (don’t) see gender: How German social workers reflect upon the influence of gender on their professional behaviour

Taher Kouhestani, Elaheh

Role of Social Work in Recognised Refugees Access to German Citizenship and Right to Vote in Berlin

Taylor, Christopher

COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION, MUSIC, AND HUMAN RIGHTS: Community participation as a human right and how music can play a role in the feeling of ‘connectedness’

Yuzbashov, Murad

Experiences of People with Disabilities during Covid-19 pandemic in Azerbaijan



 

 

Abebe, Hailu (available upon request for students and graduates of MA-SWHR as well as for general public access; alumni can be contacted upon request)

The Global Compact on Refugees and Ethiopia’s Pledges Analyzing Progress in Gambella Region

Adwan, Dima (available upon request for students and graduates of MA-SWHR as well as for general public access; alumni can be contacted upon request)

A Human Rights Perspective to Supporting Artists: Understanding and Addressing Stigma in the Integration of Forcibly Displaced Artists from Syria in Berlin

Afrin, Rifat (available upon request for students and graduates of MA-SWHR as well as for general public access; alumni can be contacted upon request)

Injustice at Every Turn: Discrimination against Transgender (Hijra) people at the employment in Bangladesh

Bui, Ngoc & Steffen, Lili 

At the Frontiers of Human Rights: Rights-Builidng at the Intersection of Migrant Reproductive Justice as Grassroots, Self- organized Struggle and Resistance 

Gebremariam, Nugus (available upon request for students and graduates of MA-SWHR as well as for general public access; alumni can be contacted upon request)

Engaging Men to End Gender-Based Violence in Patriarchal Societal Structure in Ethiopia

Iduoze, Evelyn

Evaluation of Child Rights Act Implementation in Nigeria

Lachore, Wondemagegnehu (available upon request for students and graduates of MA-SWHR as well as for general public access; alumni can be contacted upon request)

Challenges to implementing Article 24 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities to promote inclusive Education in the Ethiopian primary schools

Staudacher, Rune (alumni can be contacted upon request)

Social workers' resistance: praxes of subversion within daily social work practice - A phenomenological mapping and critical analysis of strategies of opposition and dissident

Synan, Jenny (available upon request for students and graduates of MA-SWHR as well as for general public access; alumni can be contacted upon request)

Obstacles to Justice: Male Survivors of Conflict-Related Sexual Violence Detained in Syria’s Regime Prisons

Teferi, Tsedeniya (alumni can be contacted upon request)

Exploring the Informal Social System of Iddir: A Commons Practice

Waldow Stock, Stephanie Christina (available upon request for students and graduates of MA-SWHR as well as for general public access; alumni can be contacted upon request)

The cooperation between state and civil society actors in providing a multi-disciplinary victim assistance to women trafficked from Brazil to Europe

Anusi, Doris Dorathy (available upon request for students and graduates of MA-SWHR as well as for general public access; alumni can be contacted upon request)

Child Marriage in Gofye Kuje Area Council Abuja, Northern Nigeria: Implications for Girls

Aulenbacher, Leonie (available upon request for students and graduates of MA-SWHR as well as for general public access; alumni can be contacted upon request)

Are Children Trafficked Into Residential Care Institutions? Understanding The Reasons Why Children Enter Residential Care Facilities In Nepal And Uganda

Bentham, Madeline (available upon request for students and graduates of MA-SWHR as well as for general public access; alumni can be contacted upon request)

Towards A Praxis of Dignity Promotion: Critical Reflections on Dignity in Harm Reduction Practice with People Who Use Drugs in Canada

Campbell, Tori (available upon request for students and graduates of MA-SWHR as well as for general public access; alumni can be contacted upon request)

A Place to Call Home: The Impact of the Irish Housing System on the Subjective Well-Being of Young Workers

Diangha, Mabel Njang (available upon request for students and graduates of MA-SWHR as well as for general public access; alumni can be contacted upon request)

Impact of migration on the mental health of Sub-Saharan African migrants in Germany: Case Study: Berlin-Brandenburg

Esau, Katharina

Exploring Incarcerated Women's Barriers to Reintegration: A Comparison to the Bangkok Rules

Fowler, Fiona (available upon request for students and graduates of MA-SWHR as well as for general public access; alumni can be contacted upon request)

Decolonising the human T cell leukaemia virus type 1: Resisting neglect through local story

(pubilshed as: A Qualitative Study Exploring Perceptions to the Human T Cell Leukaemia Virus Type 1 in Central Australia: Barriers to Preventing Transmission in a Remote Aboriginal Population)

Houeiss, Jad

People with disabilities and their families during the Covid-19 pandemic in Lebanon

Lee, Jennifer (available upon request for students and graduates of MA-SWHR as well as for general public access; alumni can be contacted upon request)

Equity in Education: The Case for Human Rights Education in the Era of Privatization

Meilin, Nitzan (available upon request for students and graduates of MA-SWHR as well as for general public access; alumni can be contacted upon request)

Power & Participation: Sex workers voices in the Israeli Legislation Process of the Prohibition on Consumption of Prostitution Law 

Mieser, Audrey Lee (available upon request for students and graduates of MA-SWHR as well as for general public access; alumni can be contacted upon request)

Racial Inequalities in the U.S. Criminal Justice System: Situating the Impact of Drug Courts on Minority Communities

Otto,  Melinda Richedenie (available upon request for students and graduates of MA-SWHR; alumni can be contacted upon request)

What Barriers Do Social Workers Face Regarding the Reintegration of Children Placed into Foster Care with Their Birth Parents? A Perspective from A Non-Profit Organization in South Africa.

Owusu, Bright Yeboah (available upon request for students and graduates of MA-SWHR as well as for general public access)

Ethical Discrimination Among Public Servants in Ghana

Riding, Sophie (available upon request for students and graduates of MA-SWHR as well as for general public access; alumni can be contacted upon request)

A Whole-Systems Approach to Integrated Family Support Services: Exploring how digital tools can help or hinder

Schmid, Jennifer (alumni can be contacted upon request)

Transportation of Conflict: The Significance of the Kurdish Conflict in the Everyday Life of Kurdish and Arab Refugees from Syria in Germany

Schmiegel, Louisa (available upon request for students and graduates of MA-SWHR as well as for general public access; alumni can be contacted upon request)

Accessibility Of Public Toilets For Persons With Disabilities. A Qualitive Study In Berlin, Germany

Tadesse, Michael Emru (alumni can be contacted upon request)

The Black Social Economy in Germany: A Study of ROSCAs by Ethiopian Immigrants

Tibbetts, Joel

Financial Hardship and Psychological Distress in Australia: The Moderating Role of Area-Level Socio-Economic Disadvantage

Amad, Dalal

INTERSECTIONALITY IN PALESTINIAN FEMINIST, QUEER AND ANTI-COLONIAL STRUGGLES

Ararsa, Metti Dibaba

Effectiveness of Social Audits for Human Rights due Diligence of Business in Ethiopian Flower Sector

Bischof, Natalie

Children in the ANKER centres in Germany - A Description and Analysis of the living conditions and children's rights in ANKER centres in Bavaria

Bölle, Tina-Maleen

Queering European Asylum Law - Legal and Social Work Perspectives on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity based Asylum Claims in Germany with a Focus on Berlin

Chase, Sophie

An Insight Into Young People's Experiences of Viewing Pornography, And Its' Role in Sexual Health Promotion

Cook, Lindsay

Aboriginal labour inequalities in Canada:  from early colonization to the current context
An analysis of the role of the education system in reinforcing inequalities in the Canadian labour market

Friesenhahn, Marie

Volunteers in Lesbos, Greece.
The burden of volunteering in humanitarian crisis in the psychosocial realm and the opportunities for support for volunteers.

Guglielmini, Cristina (available upon request for students and graduates of MA-SWHR; alumni can be contacted upon request)

Monitoring Human Rights Violations at European Borders - The role of grassroots NGOs in Monitoring border police violence and abuses in Europe and their contribution to social work

Hutchings, Jennifer

Narratives of Swiss Players’ Trade of Gold Mined in Peru and the Associated Damage to Humans and the Environment
A Decolonial Perspective

Johannes, Rebekka

The experiences and emotions of family
caregivers to persons with severe mental health problems:
in perspective of rural Namibia

Kumonik, Mure Moses Waigo

An examination of the situation, causes and access to health and education of street children in Rumbek town, South Sudan

Ladu, Lokudu Cosmas Ponsiano

A Study to Examine the Role of Kator B Court (Customary Court) in the Fight Against Domestic
Violence in Juba, South Sudan

Lawanson, Segun

SELF-ADVOCACY FOR IMPLEMENTING ACCESSIBILITY LAWS FOR THE DISABLED: A CASE STUDY OF ORGANISATIONS OF PEOPLE WITH DISABILITY IN LAGOS, NIGERIA.

Lee, Abriel

The contribution of Thai women assisting Thai women who have experienced intimate partner violence in Europe

Lee, Seulbee (available upon request for students and graduates of MA-SWHR; alumni can be contacted upon request)

The Perceptions on Neighborhood Environments of Refugee Children Living in Berlin

Meszaros, Doris (available upon request for students and graduates of MA-SWHR as well as for general public access)

YOUNG PERSONS WITH LEARNING DIFFICULTIES
AND THEIR PARTICIPATION IN CULTURAL LIFE:
A HUMAN RIGHTS STANDARD IN THEORY AND PRACTICE

Mulukwat, Jane Rebecca Modong

Land Rights for Widows: Cultural Practices of Depriving Widows the Right to Land Ownership and its effect on their Welfare
A case study of widows in Bunambutye sub county Bududa District-Uganda

Richter, Angelina

Effects of Natural Disasters on the Public Health of Citizens in the United States and its Territories
A reflection of the relationship between destruction, disaster and loss on the well-being and health of those with that lived experience

Rohal, Parul

Racism and Discrimination that the Second Generation of Indian and Pakistani Diaspora Faces in the Job Market in Germany

Rowe, Hannah

STATE’S RIGHT TO CONTROL TO CONTROL IMMIGRATION AT THE COST OF MIGRANTS’ HUMAN RIGHTS

Smith, Charity (available upon request for students and graduates of MA-SWHR as well as for general public access; alumni can be contacted upon request)

Alternative Family Life in Canada. The Lived Experiences of Polyamorous Families in the Fringes of Legality.

Villarreal Mendoza, Ivis Saraí

Transgender Persons in Venezuela: Coping with lack of legal recognition in times of food rationing and shortages

Wagner, Stephanie (available upon request for students and graduates of MA-SWHR as well as for general public access; alumni can be contacted upon request)

Decisive Factors in Asylum Procedures of Trafficked Women from Nigeria- A Systematic Analysis

Yong, Yu Wei

Exploring living experiences of children in a Voluntary Children Home (VCH) in Singapore

Zeile, Agnija

Through thorns to success: Integration of sentenced persons into the labour market in Latvia.

Bugge, Marit

Obedience and Dehumanization: Placing the Dublin Regulation Within A Histroical Context.

Bolzman, Liat (available upon request for students and graduates of MA-SWHR as well as for general public access; alumni can be contacted upon request)

Are We Not Human? The Journey of Eritrean Refugees Who Left Israel Under the "Voluntary Return Scheme" - From Human Experience to Human Rights

Flihan, Noor Nizar

Voluntary Work and Social Work: Two Activities Encountering Human Rights Issues.

Gerboc, Halle (available upon request for students and graduates of MA-SWHR; alumni can be contacted upon request)

Buen Vivir as an Economic Alternative in Latin America: A Feminist Perspective.

Klaßen, Louisa

Human Rights Education within German public schools - How Grassroots Initiatives can contribute to the gaps of HRE within German public schools

Kandowe, Caroline Idah

Exploring Child Headed Households, Their Challanges and Survival Mechanisms in Rural Areas. A Case Study of Chiweshe Rural Community, Zimbabwe.

Knox, Lisa

Online Solidarity: The Impact of Social Media Platforms on Female Survivors of Sexual Assault

Mujuru, Rufaro

The consequences of exposure to domestic and sexual violence and abuse on children and survivors.

Oenema, Ina Thyra

(Body)Mapping Statelessness: Bodies, Borders and Belongings.

Okoye, Nnamdi Chukwunweike

LGBT Community And Their Sexual Health Challanges in Nigeria.

Pallam, Kettu Monica Silas

Marriages as a Form of Child Trafficking in India

Ramsay, Sarah Anne Grace

Allies or Administrators? The Role of Social Workers With Unaccompanied Young People In Scotland.

Sabally, Demba

Social Work Values, Human Rights and the State's Right to Control Immigration: A Comparative Study of Access to Health Care for Gambian Irregular Migrants in Berlin and Oslo

Sanghvi, Poonam (available upon request for students and graduates of MA-SWHR as well as for general public access; alumni can be contacted upon request)

Positive Impacts of CSR Activities on Human Rights

Siddiqui, Umair

A Discussion of the Universality of Human Rights.

Aikins, Muna

Empowering Refugees- A Focus Group Analysis Necessary Procedures for Effective Complaint Management

Albán Popescu, Alina Alejandra

How are artistic means used by Social Workers and how beneficial are they when dealing with children?

Baldus, Lena (available upon request for students and graduates of MA-SWHR as well as for general public access)

Self-determination of people with intellectual disabilities in assisted living facilities in Germany

Bischof, Jasmin

Sans-papiers and regulation procedure in Switzerland - A human rights perspective on how to apply the hardship procedure in the canton St. Gallen

Brulin, Lovisa

Would you like to become a mother one day? A qualitative study of how managers for homes for persons with intellectual disabilities approach issues related to fertility, with their female service users

Gerlach, Fee

Towards sustainable communities - A permaculture- based practice model for ecosocial work

Karkoutly, Mariana (available upon request for students and graduates of MA-SWHR as well as for general public access; alumni can be contacted upon request)

The psychological and mental health of refugees in emergency camps in Berlin: The role of social work in mental health services

Keith, Catherine M.

Teacher and Social Worker Identities: Impact on relation to and interaction with adult immigrant students and clients in Minnesota

Lartigue, Sarah (available upon request for students and graduates of MA-SWHR as well as for general public access; alumni can be contacted upon request)

Studying in a French sensitive urban zone - Institutional racism and youth in the Banlieues

Mbeufonjoh, Nkaminyi Percy

Scaling up adherence to mutual health trusts through dialogue structures in Buea health district: Case study of MHO in Bepha Buea

Mujovic, Mia (available upon request for students and graduates of MA-SWHR as well as for general public access; alumni can be contacted upon request)

Art and theatre as tools of Human Rights Education for the primary prevention of peer violence in high- schools in the Republic of Serbia

Nowak, Janine

Urban Living in Mongolia- A Human Rights-based Approach

Roberts, Skyler

I cannot escape - Examining technologys role to facilitate abuse in an intimate Relationship

Rugumambaju, Beatrice

Disability in Refugee Camps: A situation of disabled girls in Nakivale Refugee Settlement Camp Isingiro District South Western Uganda

Sglavo, Mariangela

Memories of uprising of Syrian activists in Germany

Sweis, Maha

Early Child Marriage in Jordan as a Human Rights Issue - Universal Rights vs. Cultural Relativism

Valladares, Berna Yadira

Street Children in Honduras- Challenges to Improve their lives

Yeboah, Josefine (available upon request for students and graduates of MA-SWHR as well as for general public access; alumni can be contacted upon request)

Respect Diversity- Human Rights Education in LGBT Community in Ghana; An Analysis of Experiences using Peer Education to promote Human Rights & Social and Reproductive Health Rights

 

Lecturers

As MA Social Work as a Human Rights Profession is intrinsically structured as an international cooperative study program, not all lecturers are located in Berlin. Classes, seminars and examinations are also held and guided by our lecturers from

Teaching
Name Affiliated Institution Module Title Contact
Dr. Afeworki Abay, Robel Alice Salomon University of Applied Sciences (Berlin, Germany) B: Health and Human Rights in Social Work afeworki-abay[at]ash-berlin.eu
Aikins, Muna Max Planck Institute for Human Development(Berlin,Germany) B: Migration and Racism aikins[at]mpib-berlin.mpg.de
Dr. Alkan, Hilal Leibniz-Zentrum Moderner Orient (Berlin, Germany) C: Critical Approaches to Human Rights Practice in Social Work alkan[at]ash-berlin.eu
Alseth, Ann Kristin Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Department of Social Work (Trondheim, Norway) C: Human Rights Education ann.k.alseth[at]ntnu.no
Dr. Aydin, Delal Gerda Henkel Foundation (Berlin, Germany) B: Gender and Human Rights, C: Critical Approaches to Human Rights Practice in Social Work  
Dr. Başdaş, Begüm Amnesty International Turkey C: Advocacy for Human Rights: Lobby and Communication Strategies  
Dr. Bayad, Aydin Bielefeld University (Germany) A: Critical Social Science Research aydin.bayad[at]uni-bielefeld.de
Dr. Borde, Elis Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais Belo Horizonte (Belo Horizonte, Brazil) B: Health and Human Rights  
Prof. Dr. Boryczko, Marcin University of Gdansk (Gdansk, Poland) A: Social Work and Human Rights marcin.boryczko[at]ug.edu.pl
Büchy, Jenna IFOK GmbH (Berlin, Germany) C: Human Rights in the Context of Organisational Development/Innovation post[at]buechy.de
Dr. Da Lomba, Sylvie University of Strathclyde, School of Applied Social Sciences (Glasgow, Great Britain) B: Migration and Racism sylvie.da-lomba[at]strath.ac.uk
Dr. Düzen, N. Ekrem Bielefeld University (Germany) A: Critical Social Science Research ekrem.duzen[at]uni-bielefeld.de
Dr. Ellerbe, Cassandra   Workshop Diverse Learning Communities info[at]cassandraellerbe.com
Prof. Dr. Erdem, Esra Alice Salomon University of Applied Sciences (Berlin, Germany) Program Director, Colloquium for D-/E-Modules esra.erdem[at]ash-berlin.eu
Fischbach, Svenja University of Ljubljana (Ljubljana, Slovenia) Workshop: International Social Work Theories svenja.fischbach[at]fsd.uni-lj.si
Dr. Fournier, Valerie   B: Economic Justice, Empowerment and Resilience  
Dr. Gale, Christine University of Strathclyde, School of Applied Social Sciences (Glasgow, Great Britain) B: Children's Rights chrissie.gale[at]strath.ac.uk
Gerlach, Fae Edinburgh Refugee Sponsorship Circle (Edinburgh, Great Britain) B: Migration and Racism fae@refugeesponsorshipcircle.org
Prof. Dr. Großmaß, Ruth Alice Salomon University of Applied Sciences (Berlin, Germany) (only available for thesis & project supervision) grossmass[at]ash-berlin.eu
Gutsche, Peps Alice Salomon University of Applied Sciences (Berlin, Germany) B: Gender and Human Rights gutsche[at]ash-berlin.eu
Hildebrand, Bettina German Institute for Human Rights (Berlin, Germany) C: Advocacy for Human Rights: Lobby and Communication Strategies hildebrand[at]institut-fuer-menschenrechte.de
Dr. Karim, Samina University of Bradford (Bradford, Great Britain) A: Social Work and Human Rights, C: Human Rights Education s.karim7[at]bradford.ac.uk
Dr. Keskin, Cem University of Potsdam (Potsdam, Germany) Workshop: Academic Writing  
Dr. Kjellbom, Pia Linköping University (Sweden) A: International Law: A Social Work Perspective piakjellbom[at]me.com
Dr. Malmedie, Lydia University of Potsdam (Germany) C: Human Rights in the Context of Organisational Development/Innovation lydia.malmedie[at]uni-potsdam.de
Dr. Milligan, Ian University of Strathclyde, School of Applied Social Sciences (Glasgow, Great Britain) B: Children's Rights ian.milligan[at]strath.ac.uk
Niendorf, Mareike Alice Salomon University of Applied Sciences (Berlin, Germany) A: Social Work and Human Rights niendorf[at]ash-berlin.eu
Prof. Dr. Plöger, Andrea Alice Salomon University of Applied Sciences (Berlin, Germany) C: Advocacy for Human Rights: Lobby and Communication Strategies: Social Work and Human Rights ploeger[at]ash-berlin.eu
Prof. Dr. Prasad, Nivedita Alice Salomon University of Applied Sciences (Berlin, Germany) A: Social Work and Human Rights, C: Advocacy for Human Rights: Lobby and Communication Strategies prasad[at]ash-berlin.eu
Prof. Quinn, Neil University of Strathclyde, School of Applied Social Sciences (Glasgow, Great Britain) B: Migration and Racism, C: Advocacy for Human Rights: Lobby and Communication Strategies Neil.quinn[at]strath.ac.uk
Rajanayagam, Iris Alice Salomon University of Applied Sciences (Berlin, Germany) (only available for thesis & project supervision) rajanayagam[at]ash-berlin.eu
Rohal, Parul EBS (European Education Foundation GmbH) & Berlin Cosmopolitan School (Berlin, Germany) C: Human Rights Education  
Dr. Ryberg Welander, Lotti Linnaeus University (Växjö–Kalmar, Sweden) A: International Law: A Social Work Perspective lotti.ryberg-welander[at]lnu.se
Dr. Sobočan, Ana M. University of Ljubljana (Slovenia) Workshop: International Social Work Theories, A: Critical Social Science Research, B: Gender and Human Rights AnaMarija.Sobocan[at]fsd.uni-lj.si
Dr. Staaf, Annika Linnaeus University (Växjö–Kalmar, Sweden) A: International Law: A Social Work Perspective annika.staaf[at]lnu.se
Dr. Šumi, Irena University of Ljubljana (Slovenia) A: Global Social Work, B: Health and Human Rights, B: Gender and Human Rights irena.sumi[at]fsd.uni-lj.si
Teloni, Dimitra-Dora University of West Attica (Athens, Greece) A: Social Work and Human Rights dteloni[at]uniwa.gr
Dr. Üstündağ, Nazan Gerda Henkel Foundation (Berlin, Germany) B: Economic Justice, Empowerment and Resilience, B: Gender and Human Rights, C: Critical Approaches to Human Rights Practice in Social Work  
Prof. Dr. Zaviršek, Darja University of Ljubljana (Slovenia) A: Critical Social Science Research, B: Health and Human Rights in Social Work, B: Gender and Human Rights Darja.Zavirsek[at]fsd.uni-lj.si
Dr. Zeybek, S. Ozan Free University Berlin (Germany) A: Global Social Work, B: Economic Justice, Empowerment and Resilience zeybek[at]ash-berlin.eu
Biographies

Dr. Robel Afeworki Abay is sociologist and Black Queer Disability Justice activist. In his participatory PhD project at the Humboldt University of Berlin, he critically examined the Intersectional Colonialities of Ableism and Racism in the context of labour market participation of Disabled BIPoC in Germany (2023). He is currently working as a guest professor of participatory approaches in the social and health sciences at Alice Salomon University of Applied Sciences Berlin. He has recently co-edited an international volume with Karen Soldatic: Intersectional Colonialities Embodied Colonial Violence and Practices of Resistance at the Axis of Disability, Race, Indigeneity, Class, and Gender (Routledge 2024). Previously, he has worked as a research associate at the Institute of Sociology at the Ludwig-Maximilians-University of Munich, Germany. Robel has studied Sociology and Political Science at Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia and Cardiff University, Wales, UK, and Social Work in Interdisciplinary Research at the University of Kassel, Germany. His research and teaching interests include: Intersectional Disability Justice; Racism & Ableism; Gender & Queer Studies; Diversity & Intersectionality; Migration & Mobility; Postcolonial & Decolonial Theories; Climate & Social Justice; Participatory Research. Robel is also the Founder and Executive Director of the Network, Intersectional Disability Justice (IDJ): www.intersectional-disability-justice.org/en/intersectional-disability-justice-english/
 

Muna AnNisa Aikins is a social scientist, lecturer and author. She works as an independent consultant and trainer on diversity, anti-discrimination, and social justice. Aikins is a principal investigator of the communities-based Afrozensus research project at Each One Teach One e.V. (EOTO), which is the first survey study on anti-Black racism and discrimination in Germany. She is currently research director of EOTO's Center of Excellence on Anti-Black Racism(KomPad). Aikins is a predoctoral fellow of the Max Planck Research Group: Biosocial - Biology, Social Disparities, and Development at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development.

Dr. Hilal Alkan is an Alexander von Humboldt Stiftung Georg Forster fellow at Alice Salomon Hochschule and Leibniz-Zentrum Moderner Orient. She received her PhD in Political Science from the Open University. In her dissertation, she focused on civic charitable initiatives in Turkey, with the interdisciplinary lens of citizenship studies and economic anthropology. Alongside charitable giving and welfare provision, her research interests include gendered spatial formations, women’s experiences of war, and care ethics. In her recent project, she is working on informal neighbourhood initiatives aiding Syrian migrants in their resettlement in Istanbul and Berlin. She is also a member of the Women’s Initiative for Peace in Turkey, which works on gendering the peace process and documenting gendered rights violations in Turkey.

Ann Kristin Alseth is an Assistant Professor in public policy and administration at the Department of Social Work, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Trondheim, Norway. Since 2001 she has been teaching diverse student groups at the Social Work Bachelor Programme at NTNU. Her research and teaching areas concern public policy developments in the welfare state, immigration and integration policy, human rights and social work practice, critical theory, critical pedagogy and social work education. At the moment she is working on a thesis (dr. philos) with the theme 'Social Work Education and practice in a changing Norwegian welfare State' and expects to complete the thesis in spring 2021. Recently, she has, together with a colleague, developed a new course called 'Global Ethics and Human Rights' (7,5 credits). The course is mandatory for students at their department, but is also open to other students at the Faculty of Social Sciences and Education and to Erasmus students at NTNU. She has also been teaching 'Human rights, social welfare and anti-oppressive social work' in Sweden at Mid Sweden University and Örebro University.

Delal Aydin is a visiting researcher at the Institute for Sociology (IfS), University of Duisburg-Essen, where she studies the dynamics of community formation within Kurdish political mobilization in Turkey and Europe. She holds a Ph.D. in Sociology from the State University of New York at Binghamton, and her research interests include political anthropology, theories of the state, subject formation, social movements, youth studies, and cultural heritage. Aydin's forthcoming book, Friendship in Revolution: Kurdish Youth Mobilization in the Shadow of the State, explores the unexpected yet powerful role of friendship in shaping the Kurdish youth movement in Turkey. Currently based in Berlin, she is conducting research under the auspices of the Gerda Henkel Foundation, focusing on the historical and ethnographic dimensions of the Kurdish New Year (Newroz) in diaspora communities.

Aydın is a social psychologist who completed his BA at Uludağ University (Bursa), MA at Istanbul University (Istanbul) and PhD at Bielefeld University (Bielefeld). He is mainly interested in the ethnonational identification of minorities; nevertheless, he has conducted several research on political socialisation, identity conflict, peace psychology and value change which correspond to the different social-psychological processes of minorities in the face of cultural encounters with the majority population. After his primary studies on the Kurdish minority in Turkey was suddenly obstructed by the political turmoil and state violence, he started to work on Turkish minorities in Germany following his personal & indispensable migration to the same country. After that latest experience of being an exile, he is getting his head around the neoliberalisation of higher education and the history of psychology in Turkey. He is also running a political campaign entitled ‘Academic Solidarity across Borders’ funded by Hans Böckler Foundation.

Begüm Başdaş was a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Centre for Fundamental Rights at the Hertie School. She received her PhD in Geography at University of California Los Angeles and her MA in Art History from UCR. Her BA was in Sociology at Boğaziçi University, Turkey. Her research interests are migration, human rights, political theory, gender and sexuality in EU and Turkey. Her research “In the Making of New Europe: Embodied Politics of Borderlands” studies the reconstruction of EU borderlands and how the material landscapes of the Greek hotspot islands have changed since 2015. Earlier, she was an Einstein Fellow at HU Berlin where she worked on the spatial politics of solidarity among Afghan refugees and rights defenders in Greece. She worked as a Human Rights Campaigner at Amnesty International Turkey. She produces a TV program titled “On the Move with Begüm Başdaş” to discuss current issues on migration with experts.

Dr. Elis Borde studied B.Sc. European Public Health at Maastricht University, holds a Masters degree in Public Health (National School of Public Health/FIOCRUZ) and a PhD in Public Health (National University of Colombia).

Elis is professor at the Department of Preventive and Social Medicine at the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG) in Brazil where she teaches both undergraduate and graduate levels. Her research focuses on urban violence, social determinants of health and health inequities. She also works on Latin American Social Medicine and Collective Health and geographies of health inequality. Currently she is engaged in qualitative research on slum upgrading and health inequalities in Brazil.

http://lattes.cnpq.br/2852284957748232

Marcin Boryczko, PhD, Professor at the University of Gdańsk, teaches social work at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. As head of the Department of Pedagogy, he is responsible for the social work program at the University of Gdańsk. He  serves as Poland's representative to the International Federation of Social Workers (IFSW). Within the IFSW, he held the position of Human Rights Commissioner (for the European region) from 2020 to 2023, and he is currently a member of the Education Commission. His research interests primarily focus on the intersection of social work, human rights, and decolonization. His work often addresses the challenges posed by neoliberalism and authoritarian nationalism, with a commitment to advancing social justice and human rights through both theoretical and applied research. Additionally, he is deeply invested in examining the implications of global social issues such as migration, poverty, and health disparities on social work practices.

Jenna Büchy is a consultant for participation and dialogue processes at IFOK GmbH. Her focus is on workshop and event design, method development and open government. She is a social scientist (M.A.) and studied in Mannheim, Berlin and New York. In her work, she accompanies innovation and change processes in the public sector, especially with target group-oriented and design-based approaches. Previously, she coordinated university training programs in the field of Public Policy & Management at UP Transfer GmbH at the University of Potsdam. Jenna Büchy has extensive knowledge in the design and implementation of digital teaching-learning scenarios and blended learning.

Dr. Sylvie Da Lomba is a Senior Lecturer at the Law School of the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, UK. She has extensively published in the areas of migrants’ social and economic rights (with a focus on the rights of irregular migrants and asylum seekers); international, EU and national (UK, France and Canada) migration laws and policies; global and EU migration governance; and refugee integration. She is the author of a monograph on The Right to Seek Refugee Status in the European Union.

Much of her work is cross-disciplinary; she has developed socio-legal theoretical frameworks based on the concepts of membership, citizenship and vulnerability to investigate migrants’ rights and the tensions that exist between the realisation of their rights and the exercise of the government immigration power. She has conducted comparative socio-legal research in these areas and has undertaken funded empirical research in the field of migrants’ social rights, including migrants’ right to health care. For example, she was the principal investigator in a research project on ‘Women Asylum Seekers’ Access to Free NHS Maternity Care in Glasgow after a Negative Decision on their Asylum Claim’. The research was funded by and conducted in collaboration with the Scottish Refugee Council.

She was a visiting scholar at the University of Montreal and the International Institute of Human Rights in Strasbourg.

She teaches European Union Law, Human Rights Law and International Migration Law.

Research fellow at Bielefeld University, Institute for Interdisciplinary Research on Conflict and Violence (IKG). MS in Clinical Psychology, MS in Philosophy of Science, PhD in Applied Psychology.  Psychotherapist. Main works include adaptation and standardization of intelligence tests, developmental scales and measurement devices; program and material production on child and adolescent development; youth work; psychocultural formation of agency (person in action), self (locus of experience), and individual (member of a society).Trainer and consultant to national and international civil society organizations. Currently working on (1) everyday reproduction of discrimination, othering, and exclusion, (2) national and transnational youth mobility, (3) home and diaspora in transnational context.

Dr. Cassandra Ellerbe completed a PhD in Comparative Cultural Studies and Anthropology in 2006 at the University of Ghent, Belgium and has worked as a researcher on migration and gender related issues in several EU research projects. Cassandra worked from 2016 - 2019 with Team180/Flucht & Asyl at the Agentur für Arbeit  -  Berlin Süd while lecturing on social justice & diversity as a faculty member at Bard College Berlin. 2019 - 2021 Cassandra worked as a Senior Researcher at the Berlin University of Technology in the Interreg Central Europe project “SIforRef. From April 2021 - November 2022 she was the officer for Diversity & Inclusivity at the University of Bremen, Germany in the EU project YUFE (YoungUniversities for the Future of Europe). She is a certified diversity, social justice and embodied social justice trainer and conducts internationally empowerment workshops for migrant and refugee women of colour.

Prof. Dr. Esra Erdem is Professor for Social Economics at Alice Salomon Hochschule Berlin and Academic Director of the Master's Program Social Work as a Human Rights Profession.

She received a PhD in Economics from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

Her primary research areas include Solidarity Economies, Commons, Urban Studies, Critical University Studies and Migration Studies.

Homepage

After completing my studies in Social Work (B.A. and M.A.) in 2014, I worked as a Social Work practitioner in various fields (Refugees' NGO, ASD/Jugendamt, Jugendberatung) and as a 'Fachreferentin' in Verband fuer Kinder- und Jugendarbeit Hamburg. In 2021, I migrated to Ljubljana, Slovenia, to do a PhD on the topic of women care migration from Serbia to Germany. This is framed/supported by an international PhD programme (funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020/Marie Curie research and innovation programme), a training programme in which 15 of us PhD students from around the world work closely together.

Link: www.jyu.fi/en/research/astra/esrs/esr11-svenja-fischbach

I have a long standing interest and experience in  Alternative or Diverse Economies. I have supervised PhDs and Master’s dissertations in the area, and taught alternative organisational or economic models and concepts (for example, cooperative and communal organisations, ethical finance, degrowth or sustainability) on various Master’s programmes at the University of Leicester and Keele in the UK,  and in seminars in the Universities of Creteil, Paris Dauphine and Lille in France. Throughout my academic career, my aim has been to invite students to envisage more socially and ecologically responsible ways of organising.
In terms of research, my focus has been to demonstrate the value and existence of alternative ways of organising, driven by an ethic of care (for people and the planet) rather than the pursuit of profit. For example, I have co-edited a volume on alternative organisations, as well as published papers on concepts central to the articulation of alternative economic models (e.g. degrowth, commons). Recently, I have become interested in biodiversity management , and in particular in finding ways of valuing biodiversity based on an ethics of care, rather abstract economic valuation. I am also currently involved in a European wide project aimed at researching and developing an International Master’s programme on Social and Solidarity Economy (SE4Ces ).

 

Dr. Christine (Chrissie) Gale received a doctorate and an MSc in International Development from the University of Bristol. She received her MA in Social Policy from the University of York. She is a Senior Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Strathclyde where for four years, she also led the international work for the Centre for Excellence for Children’s Care and Protection (CELCIS). This post encompassed the management of a global portfolio of child protection programmes and development of knowledge exchange opportunities, including facilitation of several international Massive Open Online Courses. Chrissie has a career spanning more than 30 years in which she continues to promote child rights with specific reference to child protection, alternative care, and the protection of children on the move in an international context.  In addition to her work leading global research projects, Chrissie has lived and worked in many different regions of the world combining her professional expertise in the employ of international bodies and organisations such as UNICEF, UNHCR, UNWRA and Save the Children, with an academic career. This includes the provision of technical support to State, UN, and non-governmental bodies in the understanding and application of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child to inform the development of national child protection systems.  

Fae Gerlach is a previous graduate of the SWHR masters programme. She is an organiser and activist dedicated to developing intersectional, anti-oppressive leadership and enabling communities and organisations of tangible care in the struggle for migrants rights. For over 15 years, she has explored ways of creating social change. From youth work and teaching, to frontline response work and human rights advocacy, to organising and organisation and network-building, to project management and sociocultural, community-based work. Her work with migrant children, young people, trafficking victims and women throughout Europe informs her trauma-informed, non-oppressive and intersectional approach to solidarity, one that reflects the complex realities and relationships of those we organise with.

Peps Gutsche (they/them), B.A. Social Science (Humboldt-University Berlin), M.A. Gender, Media and Culture (Goldsmith College, University College of London) , M.A. Media and Education (University Rostock). Since 2020, Peps is working at the Alice Salomon Hochschule Berlin supporting organisational development and offering counselling to deal with incidents of discriminination, sexualized harrasment und violence. They are an educator and facilitator around the topics of anti-discrimination, right-wing extremism and gender relations.

(only available for thesis and project supervision)

What is interesting to know about her professional background?

Subjects of studies: Philosophy, German literature, Education at RUB (Bochum) and Philipps-University (Marburg), short stays in Great Britain and France included; PhD at Bielefeld University (“Psychische Krisen und Sozialer Raum” – a research on counselling).

For more than 20 years she was an active professional counsellor, doing teaching and research side-line.  Later on, in 2004, she decided to change priorities and was successful in applying at Alice Salomon Hochschule for the chair in Social philosophy and Ethics, which she held for more than 10 years, working on professional ethics and the philosophical backgrounds of social work. Towards the end of her professional career she was asked to build up the master program “Social work as a Human Rights Profession” – a task she really became interested in and identified with. In 2015 she retired, glad to hand over the program to Esra Erdem and Johanna Isensee, the current Program Director and Program Manager.

For further details on her activities at Alice Salomon Hochschule and  her publications (most of them – sorry – in German), please visit the ASH profile.

Since 2003 Bettina Hildebrand is the head of communications and spokesperson of the independent German Institute for Human Rights in Berlin 

She is a professional journalist with wide experience in print, radio and TV (ZDF, German public-service television broadcaster). She also worked several years as communications manager and spokesperson for the Media Authority of North Rhine-Westphalia in Düsseldorf, Germany.

 

1987 University degrees in philosophy, history and theology

2004/2005 Studies and graduation as Dipl. Fundraiser VMI, University of Fribourg/Switzerland

 

From 2006 to 2012 she regularly taught Iraqi security forces within the framework of the NATO Training Mission - Iraq on "Human Rights and Media." 

Her fields of expertise are Media/Journalism, Public Relations and Human Rights.

Dr. Samina Karim (UK) is an academic in the field of social work, and a specialist in working with children and families. Her expertise is centred around the topics of child abuse, historic abuse, children’s rights and power within social work practice. Currently, she is an Assistant Professor at the University of Bradford and a programme director, and is involved in undertaking international research in order to examine the issue of child abuse in South Asia.  She is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy with a PhD in Social Work from the University of Strathclyde and a Masters in Social Work from the University of Birmingham, UK.

2020–Present, Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Potsdam

2019–Present, Adjunct Instructor, Alice Salomon University

2019–2020, Academy in Exile Fellow, Freie Universität Berlin

2018–Present, Adjunct Instructor, Freie Universität Berlin

2011–2017, Assistant Professor, Istanbul 29 Mayis University, Turkey

2005–2009, PhD in Linguistics, Utrecht University, Netherlands

2000–2005, Research Assistant, Hacettepe University, Ankara, Turkey

1999–2002, MS in Cognitive Science, Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey

1995–1999, BA in Linguistics, Hacettepe University, Ankara, Turkey

 

Research interests: syntax, morpho-syntax, diachronic syntax, language contact; clause combining, case, agreement, nominalizations, complex predicates, voice; Turkish, Balkan Turkic, Ottoman Turkish; linguistic rights, minority languages, language loss; critical thinking

 

Pia Kjellbom has a PhD in social work and is currently working as researcher and lecturer in welfare law at Linköping University in Norrköping, Sweden. Main interests are social work law, evictions, child evictions, housing and home especially for socially and economically vulnerable groups as well as human rights.

Dr. Lydia Malmedie is a doctoral researcher at the Economics and Social Science Faculty at the University of Potsdam, Germany with a scholarship by the German research council (DFG). Her thesis is on the EU’s foreign policy with regard to human rights for LGBTI persons in Sub-Sahara Africa and she carried out field research in Kenya and Uganda. Previously, Lydia worked for a London Fostering Agency and at Europe’s largest human rights charity for equality for lesbian, gay and bisexual people in the UK. She advised UK government and led on the highly sensitive primary school campaign ‘Celebrating Difference’. Invited by UNESCO, she contributed to the first ever international expert meeting on homophobia in education institutions. As an equality and diversity consultant, Lydia has worked with private and public sector organizations including SoundCloud and the German development cooperation (GIZ). She holds a European Master in Human Rights and Democratization and is the former president of the Alumni Association bringing together over 2,000 human rights experts, activists and professionals of EU funded Human Rights master programmes globally.

Dr. Ian Milligan is involved in international policy and practice development in the field of 'Alternative care' - children who are in foster, kinship or residential care. He is one of the authors of Moving Forward: Implementing the UN Guidelines on the Alternative Care of Children, published in 2013 and now translated into 6 languages including Russian and Chinese (Mandarin). Ian has provided consultancy, research, evaluation and training services in a number of countries. As International lead for CELCIS Ian is involved in building partnerships with UNICEF, NGOs and academic institutions to develop policy and increase the knowledge and skills of child welfare professionals across the world. Ian has acted as a consultant to the Scottish and UK governments.

Mareike Niendorf studied social work in Freiburg and is a graduate of the German-language master’s

program Social Work as a Human Rights Profession. Since April 2021, she has been a researcher,

lecturer, and doctoral candidate at the Alice Salomon University Berlin pursuing her doctoral

project “Human rights in professional work with people in vulnerable situations. Educational

processes regarding human rights orientation in study programs for social workers, health

professionals, and police officers “.

Previously, she worked for the German Institute for Human Rights for eight years. A particular focus

of her work was on (anti-discrimination) human rights education and the human right to education.

Andrea Plöger received her PhD in Political Science at the Free University of Berlin. She has studied Visual Anthropology, Sociology and Political Science at the same university. She has worked as a documentary filmmaker and media educator in different settings, as in the World Media Forum and World Social Forum context, as in the network Afrique Europe Interact, as with the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation and as in international NGOs as well as in different  local initiatives and organisations in the city of Berlin. Her field is "Social Cultural Work" - also in a community context. Her focus is on communication rights, media activism, media education and media literacy with a critical perspective on discrimination and coloniality. She is also helping to run the media lab at Alice Salomon University of Applied Sciences.

Prof. Dr. Nivedita Prasad is a Professor for methods of Social Work and gender-specific Social Work at the Alice Salomon University of Applied Sciences in Berlin. She is the director of the German MA Program “Soziale Arbeit als Menschenrechtsprofession” and teaches courses on Human Rights based Social Work, Intersectional Critical Social Work and methods for structural change in Social Work. She was awarded the first Anne Klein Prize in 2012 for her ongoing dedication to the Human Rights of migrant women.

Neil Quinn (University of Strathclyde) is Professor in Social Work and Social Policy, and Co-Director of the University's Centre for Health Policy. The Centre works across all faculties in collaboration with several local and international partners. He is an international leader in social work and public health has been invited to be a Visiting Professor at New York and Yale Universities.

He has a specific interest in global public health and social welfare policy and has expertise in social work, health and human rights. His human rights work focuses on migration, mental health, homelessness and looked after children. He is leading a national research programme on the right to health for marginalised groups. He is engaged in a number of key national policy roles, including the Scottish National Action Plan (SNAP) human rights group on health and social care and in a range of high-profile international work as an advisor to the World Health Organisation on mental health rights, co-author of the UNCRC Guidelines for the Alternative Care of Children Handbook and collaborations with Yale and New York University on health policy.  

He is committed to working in partnership with service users and communities and has 25 years’ experience in social work, community development and public health at a local, national and international level. He has led a major community development and health programme in one of Europe’s areas of highest deprivation, chaired the national Sanctuary programme working with asylum seekers and refugees and is on the steering group of People’s Health Movement Scotland. He is also a co-founder of the Declaration health and human rights arts festival.

Publications

(at the moment only available for thesis or project supervision!)

Iris Rajanayagam is a historian (MA Modern / Contemporary History, University of Cologne / Humboldt University Berlin / University of Dar es Salaam). She works on postcolonial theories, her focus particularly lying on colonial continuities in German and European migration, refugee and asylum policies, intersectionality as well as on theories and practice of antiracism and antidiscrimination. She is director of the non-profit organisation xart splitta and researcher and lecturer at the Alice Salomon University of Applied Sciences in the module: “Racism and Migration”. 

Iris Rajanayagam is also board member of the Migration Council Berlin (Migrationsrat Berlin), part of the Jury against Discriminatory Advertising of the Berlin Senate and co-founder of the radio show “Talking Feminisms” on Reboot.fm.  

From 2013 to 2016 she was part of the editing team of the magazine “Leben nach Migration” (Eng.: “Life after Migration”) of the Migrationsrat Berlin. 

I am Parul Rohal, born and raised in India. I moved to Berlin to pursue a master's in Social Work as a Human Rights Profession. I have vast experience in the field of Empowerment Projects, Migration and Children's Rights. For the last four years, I have been working as an educator at Berlin Cosmopolitan School, teaching children's rights and human rights to the children.

Lotti Ryberg Welander is licentiate of law and PhD in Sociology of law. She has been teaching law in social work since 2000 and is focusing on the welfare aspects of legal regulation. Her main interests are migration, human rights and international and supranational regulation of labour law and social security. 

At the core of her research interests are ethics and decision-making in social work, social work professional identity as well as research ethics. Currently, she is aiming to develop these topics in an international research group. Her research and teaching experience extend to gender as well as a social justice and inclusion take on different social groups. She is often engaged as a lecturer in an international arena (Belgium, Germany, Netherlands, USA) as well as a contributor in international research (Austria, Germany, Japan, Kosovo, Macedonia, Sweden, etc.). She has experience as an editor, reviewer in 8 scientific journals, translator and thesis advisor.

Furthermore, she leads the Social Work Chapter of the Slovenian Sociological Association; she was a vice-chair of the European Social Work Research Association (ESWRA); and has been active in Eastern-European Sub-Regional Association of Schools of Social Work. Additionally, she co-founded the Society for Business Ethics and Ethical Leadership; and is also a member of a few ethical committees in various institutions (i.e. Slovenian Human Rights Ombudsman Office).

She is employed as an assistant professor and postdoctoral researcher at the University of Ljubljana, where she received her PhD. The doctoral thesis, which she partially developed as a Fulbright scholar (at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill) was recognized as the most excellent research work in social sciences in 2013 with an award by the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts (SAZU).

Publications

Dr. Annika Staaf is responsible for module A - International Law of the Master program SWHR.

She is assistant professor in social work with a speciality of Legal Science. Her research interest concerns mainly Constitutional law, administrative Law and Human Rights. Her PhD thesis described the rule of law in facilities providing involuntarily care and treatment for drug addicts in accordance with a Swedish legislation, The Care of Alcoholics and Drug abusers special provisions Act.

Irena Šumi, Ph.D. is an Anthropologist, specializing in anthropology of ethnicity, nationalism and boundaries; racisms and antisemitism; the Holocaust and survivors from Slovenia; Slovenian Jewry; Native American political history of the 20th century; postcolony and postsocialism studies.

Full bibliographical references at:

http://izumbib.izum.si/bibliografije/Y20160819044006-A2828899.html

Dimitra-Dora Teloni, MA in Research Methodology, PhD is Associate Professor in the
Department of Social Work, University of West Attica, Athens, Greece and Vice-Director in
the Master "Social rights and advocacy in social services". She is teaching social work from
2006 until today in both undergraduate and postgraduate level and had also worked as a
qualified and registered social worker with cancer patients and their carers, as well as with
drug addicted people. She activates in antiracist movement and in grassroots welfare
initiatives for people in poverty and she is also member of the Steering Committee of
International Social Work Action Network as well as Greek SWAN. Her publications and
research interests focus on immigration and social work, anti-racist social work, radical and
critical social work as well as social movements, human rights and advocacy.

Üstündağ received her Ph.D. in 2005 from the sociology department at Indiana University Bloomington. Between 2005 and 2018, she worked as an Assistant Professor at Boğaziçi University, Department of Sociology. Between 2018 and 2020 she was affiliated with the Transregionale Studien in Berlin as an Academy in Exile and IIE Scholar Rescue Fund fellow. Currently, she is receiving a fellowship from the Gerda Henkel Foundation Patrimonies program. Her work concerns political imaginaries, gendered subjectivities and state violence in Kurdistan. Her most recent articles appeared in the journals South Atlantic Quarterly, History of the Present and differences.

Prof. Darja Zaviršek, PhD. is sociologist, professor and chair of the „Department of Social Justice and Inclusion - Disability studies, gender and ethnicity" at the University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Social Work and the honorable professor at the Alice Salomon University of Applied Sciences Berlin. Since 2008 she is the president of the Eastern European Sub-Regional Association of the Schools of Social Work, at the IASSW and the board member of the IASSW. She was the co-founder and chair of the Indosow- International Doctoral Studies in Social Work, 2009-2014. She is the national representative in the Academic Network of European Disability Experts ANED at the level of the European Commission, EU. She supported the development of social work education in several Eastern European countries (Ukraine, Georgia, Kosovo) and was recurrent visiting professor at different universities: Central European University (2005-2015, Gender Programme); University of Banja Luka (2000-2007, Dept of Social Work); University of Kiev Mohlya, Kiev, Ukraine (1997- 2010, Dept of Social Work); Tbilisi State University (2010-2015; doctoral studies Gender Programme); Univ. of Zuyd, Maastricht (1998-2011; international master programme). Currently she teaches at the Master Programme of the University of Applied Science Alice Salomon Berlin, "Social Work as a Human Rights Profession".

Areas of research: gender, disability, ethnicity studies, history of social work, violence. From 2012 – 2015 she served as the board member of the European Social Work Research Assitoation – ESWRA and in 2015, she was the organising Chair of the 5th European Social Work Research Conference in Ljubljana. In 2016 she was the International Hokenstad Lecturer at the anual CSWE conference. In 2017 her article "The humanitarian crisis of migration versus the crisis of humanitarianism: current dimensions and challenges for social work practice" became awarded as the International Social Work Article in the Social Work Education International Journal. She wrote, edited and co-edited 17 books in Slovenian and English language and wrote over hundreds of scientific and professional articles.

Selected books:

Darja Zaviršek (2000), Disability as a Cultural Trauma. Ljubljana cf.

Darja Zaviršek (2005), "With Diploma it was Easier to Work!" The 50th Anniversary of social work education in Slovenia. FSD, Ljubljana.

Shula Ramon and Darja Zaviršek eds (2009), Critical Edge Issues in Social Work and Social Policy. Comparative Research Perspective. Faculty of Social Work, Ljubljana.

Darja Zaviršek & Birgit Rommelspacher & Silvia Staub Bernascone eds.(2010), Ethical Dilemmas in Social Work. International Perspective. Faculty of Social Work, Ljubljana.

Darja Zaviršek (2012), From Blood to Care: Social Parenthood in Global World. [Od krvi do skrbi: socialno starševstvo v globalnem svetu] Aristej, Maribor. (in Slovenian language);

Darja Zaviršek, Ana Marija Sobočan eds (2012), Rainbow Families Go to School: Perspectives of Children, Parents and Teachers FSD, Ljubljana.

Dr. S. Ozan Zeybek received his PhD in Geography from The Open University in UK. He worked as an Associate Professor at Istanbul Bilgi University, Turkey.

Dr. Zeybek works on more-than-human collectives and ecologies, state violence, militarism and different constructions of manhood. His recent publications include a study of stray dogs in Istanbul, livestock killings in the Kurdish region of Turkey during the forced displacement of the Kurdish population in the 1990s or the criminalisation of goats during the appropriation of forests in the early Republican period of Turkey. He teaches on how agriculture, financial capital and human health relate to each other or how human’s treatment of animals has been affected by the energy systems humans could extract.

He also writes children’s stories.

Research interests

Cluster A
Postcolonial studies
Spatial-temporal formations of modernity

Cluster B
Land dispossessions
More-than- human collectives 
Animal Studies
Ecological Movements

Cluster C
Masculinity Studies & Militarism
Fatherhood & Parenting

Selected Articles

Citizenship and Objection to Military Service in Turkey In: Handbook of Citizenship, eds. Engin Isin and Jack Harrington, London: Routledge, 2014 [co-author Hilâl Alkan Zeybek]

Fraudulent” Citizens Of A Small Town: Occidentalism in Turkey

Antipode, Volume 44, Issue 4, 2012

Small Towns in Turkey: Footnotes in Somebody Else’s History

Journal of Historical Sociology, Volume 24, Issue 1, 2011

Geçmişle Yüzleşmek: Türkiye’de ve Almanya’da Hafıza Siyaseti [Politics of Remembering: A Comparison of Germany and Turkey], Cogito, Issue 90, 2018

Ekolojinin Politikası: Yeni Sınırlar, Yeni Aktörler [The Politics of Ecology: New Borders, New Actors], Toplum ve Bilim, Issue 138/139, 2016

Biyo-Politika, Güvenlik ve Anti-Piyasalar: Türkiye'de Endüstriyel Hayvancılığın Seyri [Biopolitics, Security, and Anti-Markets: Industrial Cattle Breeding in Turkey],Toplum ve Bilim, Issue 138/139, 2016

Fenni Ormancılığın Keçiler ve Köylülerle İmtihanı: Sömürge İmparatorluklarından Ulus Devletlere Orman Koruma [Scientific Forestry and Criminalised Goats: The Pursuit of Forest Preservation from Colonial Empires to Nation States], Toplum ve Bilim, Issue 137, 2016

İstanbul'un Yuttukları ve Kustukları: Köpekler ve Nesneler Üzerinden Bir İstanbul Tahlili [The Metropolis of Stray Dogs and Discarded Materials: Rescaling the City and Its Ecology], book chapter in Yeni İstanbul Çalışmaları, eds. Ayfer Bartu and Cenk Özbay, Istanbul: Metis Yayınları, 2014

Avrupa Düşüncesinin Talî Unsurları: Kölelik ve Sömürgecilik [Slavery and Colonialism in the European Enlightment], İnsan & Toplum3(6), 2013

"Bu Bebeğin Annesi Nerede?" Cinsiyet, Babalık ve Armağan İlişkileri [“Where is The Mother of This Baby?” Gender, Fatherhood and Gift Relations], Toplum ve Bilim, Issue 126,2013

Services

International ACTIVITIES

The International Office offers  several activities, programs and projects in which you are warmly welcome to participate and mingle with other ASH-students.

GERMAN CLASSES

We regularly organize German classes for beginners at the start of each new academic year. Even though our program is completely held and guided in English, we invite all our students to take the chance and learn a little bit more about Berlin and Germany.

INTERNET ACCESS

The Education Roaming (eduroam) grants internet connectivity to all ASH students, teachers and staff both within the university as well as in other participating institutions, for example at other university campuses and libraries such as the Freie Universität Berlin (FU Berlin).

Please click here for further instructions for registration according to your operating system (Windows, Mac OS X, Android or Iphone/Ipad). Should you face any difficulties, the staff of  the Computer Center of the ASH in Rooms 218 and 219 will gladly assist you.

HUNGRY?

No matter if you are vegan, vegetarian or just want to have a cup of coffee, studierendenWERK Berlin offers a variety of affordable canteens and cafeterias for students all over Berlin, and at ASH. Don't forget your student-ID for your student discount!

Be part of the university and utilize the various possibilities on further training, recreation as well as the in-house  students initiatives. 

HOUSING IN BERLIN

Finding an appropriate accommodation ! The International Office provides you with a brief introduction on housing as well as a few facts on living in Berlin.

Kindly note that any application for a student dorm­­­ before to the admission to the MA-SWHR program may not be considered by the studierendenWerk

COUNSELLING AND SUPPORT

Are you looking for a way on how to balance student life and family life?  Do you wish to know more about alice barrier-free and its policy? Do you urgently need a special counselling due to fear of speaking, personal crises, or find personal difficulties in your studies in general? Feel free to reach out to us, and we will be happy to help or find you a contact person.

Finances

Although our university does not offer any financial support for graduate students yet, we, however, provide you with a distinctive compilation on institutions offering scholarships in our download section.

Further guidance

Sexual harassment, discrimination or violence: Find guidance and support here

Psychological counselling for students: Appointments in English available here

Empowerment and Awareness

The Empowerment, Awareness and anti-racist institutional opening of ASH Berlin (EmpA) aims to improve the study conditions of international students, students with a refugee background and students of color through various offers such as PowerExperts, an expert Forum for international and BIPoC students to present their researches, or PowerTalk, where students can arrange individual and confidential talks with the EmpA team. You can find more information about EmpA and their offers here.

Downloads

SWHR Development & History of Master Program
Application
Assessments / Assignments
Regulations
Further forms and documents