Study of Sociology at the Faculty of Sociology, University of Bielefeld and Ecole des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris. Research Assistant, Associate, and Lecturer in Sociology and in Sociology of Social Problem and Intervention at Univerity of Bielefeld; Research fellow at Centre des Études Sociologiques sur le Droit et les Institutions Pénales (CESDIP) in Guyancourt, France; Invited Professor of Sociology and Social Problems at the Universities in Essen and Siegen (Germany), Sofia, (Bulgaria), Lille (France), and St. Petersburg (Russia). Professor of Social Work at the University Esslingen, since 2007 Professor of Theory and Research at University Dortmund, Germany and Director of the Institute of Social Work.

 

Main research interests: Sociology of Social Problems and Social Control; Social Services; crime, crime control and security; poverty, social exclusion and social policy; violence and ethnic conflicts; Alcohol and Drug policy.

 

Research Networks and Activity:

• Chair of the section ‘Social Problems and Social Control’ within the German Association of Sociology (DGS)
• Member of the editorial board and commissioning editor of the journal “Soziale Probleme”
• Member of the editorial board and commissioning editor of the journal “Déviance & Société”
• Chair of the scientific committee of GERN (Groupement Européenne de Recherches sur les Normativités) [http://www.gern-cnrs.com/]
• European research network of research on crime, crime control, deviant behaviour and social problems
• Member of the steering committee of the European coordinated action project (6th FWP) “CRIMPREV” (2006-2009) [http://www.crimprev.eu] The network’s aim has been producing comparative, European added value based on knowledge accrued within national frameworks about social, political, economic, legal and cultural factors conducive to socially deviant behaviour and crime, their perception among the public and the public policies pertaining to these phenomena.