Ph.D. Thesis: Dr. Laura Wenzel – New Perspectives for Migration Research
2026-06-22 Her dissertation combines research on refugee migration, family, and trust with methodological questions in migration studies. For this work, social scientist Laura Wenzel was awarded the dissertation prize from Leuphana University Lüneburg. The next PhD information session, “Getting Started with a Doctorate: Everything You Need to Know,” will take place online on July 2, 2026, from 12:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. Anyone interested is welcome to attend.
Daycare centers and other early childhood education programs are often important places of orientation and settlement for families with refugee migration backgrounds. At the same time, new expectations, uncertainties, and relationships of trust emerge there. In her dissertation, Laura Wenzel therefore examined the role that trust plays between parents with refugee migration backgrounds and early childhood education programs. “Trust is key to participation,” explains the social scientist.
At the same time, her work turns the spotlight on research itself: “Research on migration never arises in isolation from societal notions and categories. How questions are phrased, which terms are used, or how standardized surveys are adapted linguistically and contextually also influences which results come to light,” says Laura Wenzel.
The starting point for the dissertation was a quantitative sub-project on the trust that parents with refugee backgrounds have in early childhood education programs in Lower Saxony. However, data collection took place during the first COVID-19 lockdown, presenting the research team with particular challenges. The experiences gained during the research process also prompted Laura Wenzel to reflect more deeply on methodological and method-related questions, as well as the conditions under which migration research is conducted. Using a triangulation of methods, quantitative and qualitative approaches were combined, and the possibilities and limitations of the categories, translation strategies, and data collection methods used were examined.
Laura Wenzel completed her doctoral degree through a cumulative dissertation and published her findings in international academic journals. A central aim of her research is to challenge oversimplified representations of migration. Instead of homogenizing categories, Laura Wenzel advocates for a nuanced examination of individual life realities: “Refugees are a very diverse social group.” She argues that robust research findings emerge when this diversity is taken into account from the very outset of the methodological design.
Her interest in this field of research was sparked by practical experiences during her master’s program at the University of Bremen: “Right next to the university were tents where refugees lived. My encounters with the people living there had a profound impact on me.”
She found support during her doctoral studies through, among other things, the ProViae mentoring program. It is aimed at female doctoral candidates who, drawing on their academic training and experiences, wish to explore potential career paths and positions. Her time as a doctoral candidate was also shaped by her collaboration on the research project and the interdisciplinary exchange within the team: “I received a lot of support from colleagues and advisors and learned a great deal through our collaborative work,” she reflects.
In 2025, she received an email with news that was as delightful as it was surprising: her dissertation had been awarded the Leuphana Doctoral Prize.
The citation reads: “With her dissertation, Laura Wenzel develops an independent methodological perspective and thereby outlines a comprehensive research program that extends beyond the dissertation itself. She combines high academic relevance with sociopolitical significance. Ms. Wenzel skillfully and clearly links interdisciplinary research on the topics of trust, flight/migration, family, and diversity.”
It was also noted that she already possesses an “exceptionally strong academic foundation” for her future career. Even before her time at the university, Laura Wenzel gained research experience at the Federal Institute for Population Research in Wiesbaden, where she worked in the field of migration and transnational families.
Since June 2022, Laura Wenzel has been a research assistant in the Department of Social Pedagogy at the Institute for Social Work and Social Pedagogy at Leuphana University of Lüneburg. Prior to that, she worked there on the “Integration through Trust” project (2019–2022). Since April 2025, she has also been working on the “Constructive Diversity Talk for Prospective Teachers (KoDiTa)” project.