Empirical Educational Research
Teachers are the key players in the success of schools with their teaching programmes. Above all, the professional competence of teachers plays a decisive role in the quality of teaching and learning at school. An evidence-based understanding of the (causal) interplay between teaching-learning processes on the one hand and the professionalism of teachers, both in training and in the teaching profession, on the other, is therefore an elementary idea for the quality development of schools.
Based on a broad understanding of empiricism, the doctoral programme Empirical Educational Research investigates current subject-specific and subject-independent questions about modelling, recording, genesis, development and impact of both the development of teaching and the development of professional competence of (prospective) teachers.
Research Forum
The research group offers regular colloquia. Please check myStudy or the course catalogue for current sessions.
Current Disputations
Tuesday, 31 March 2026, from 12:15 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. | Room C40.164: Doctoral defence (Dr. phil.) by Norina Wolf on the topic of ‘Human resources development as a result of developments in digital technology’ (In German language)
Thursday, 02 April 2026 from 1:15 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. | Room C40.164: Doctoral defence (Dr. phil.) by Jasmin Witthöft on the topic of ‘Leading Open Innovation in Schools’
Wednesday, 8 April 2026, from 11:15 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. | Room C40.164: Doctoral defence (Dr. phil.) by Gitte Köllner on the topic of ‘Reflection in peer feedback-supported e-portfolio work: A qualitative analysis of motivational essays in English teacher training’ (In German language)
Thursday, 16 April 2026, from 2:15 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. | Room C 7.013: Doctoral thesis defence (Dr. phil.) by Lotta Kardel on the topic of ‘Linguistic and cultural diversity in schools and teaching: Beliefs, (Critical-Reflexive) Awareness and (Critical-Reflexive) Responsiveness of (Prospective) Teachers’ (In German language)
Monday, 11 May 2026, from 11:15 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. | Room C 1.312: Doctoral thesis defence (Dr. phil.) by Franz Vergöhl on the topic of 'Understanding student participation in higher education and expanding the scope for action in this area.' (In German language)
Recently completed doctoral dissertations
- Annika Bahls: The technical and linguistic complexity of learning tasks in politics textbooks – a feature-specific task analysis (In German language)
- Vanessa Bräuer: Sketching as a strategy for solving geometric modelling tasks. A quantitative study in lower secondary education (In German language)
- Lena Dammann: On the influence of connectors on text comprehension and mathematical performance in modelling tasks (In German language)
- Denise Depping: Development of professional competence in teacher training students. Investigation of components of professional competence and their connections with learning opportunities within and outside of teacher training (In German language)
- Henrike Diekhoff: Teaching sports games in primary school: Pupils' perspectives on the staging of physical education lessons with the help of digital media (In German language)
- Fabian Alexander Emde: Family and personal characteristics of pupils in the context of the German school system (In German language)
- Sven Hardersen: Academic continuing education in Germany as a human resource management tool (In German language)
- Alina Kristin Hase: #FromDataToAction – How teachers use data from digital learning platforms to design their lessons (In German language)
- Katharina Horst de Cuestas: Peer feedback as a support for collective songwriting processes in music lessons (In German language)
- Anna Holstein: The potential of video use to foster and assess teacher-student feedback in teacher education. (In English language)
- Hanna-Sophie Homann: Stressors and resources in long-term teaching placements: actors influencing the professional well-being of trainee teachers (In German language)
- Fenja Kuchenbuch: Perceiving and learning to plan tasks (orientation) in competence-oriented English teaching: A qualitative study on the professionalisation of student teachers (In German language)
- Anna-Katharina Poschkamp: Working on problem-solving tasks for calculating surface area supported by paper- and video-based solution examples (In German language)
- Farina Weiher: Estimating lengths, surface areas, capacities and volumes Development and evaluation of an estimation test for children in the fourth, fifth and sixth grades (In German language)
- Prof. Dr. Michael Ahlers
- Prof. Dr. Anne Barron
- Prof. Dr. Michael Besser
- Prof. Dr. Timo Ehmke
- Prof. Dr. Harald Hantke
- Prof. Dr. Marc Kleinknecht
- Prof. Dr. Poldi Kuhl
- Prof. Dr. Dominik Leiß
- Prof. Dr. Astrid Neumann
- Prof. Dr. Marcus Pietsch
- Prof. Dr. Markus Reihlen
- Prof. Dr. Silke Ruwisch
- Prof. Dr. Stephan Schiemann
- Prof. Dr. Torben Schmidt
- Prof. Dr. Jessica Süßenbach
If you wish to pursue your doctorate at Leuphana, you must be enrolled as doctoral student. Information about admission to the doctorate at Leuphana and the application procedure can be found here.
Leuphana Graduate School offers advice and coaching to academics in the qualification phase. The Graduate School's advisor will be happy to support you in questions of decision-making, challenges in the course of your doctorate, and career planning and development. You can find more information about the counselling and coaching services here.
