On November 7, 2024, Jennifer Hübner successfully defended her dissertation entitled "Little stories of openness - On the practice of openness in a children's and youth center: an ethnographic exploration". She was the first to complete one of the seven doctoral qualification positions created at ASH Berlin. The positions were agreed in the Berlin Senate's university contract with ASH Berlin for the years 2018-2022 in order to promote direct academic qualification in the SAGE disciplines.
In her thesis, Jennifer Hübner examined the professional principle of openness in the field of open child and youth work (OKJA) and addressed the question of whether and how openness is established in the everyday life of child and youth leisure facilities beyond programmatic invocations in terms of practical action and discourse. "With my research interest in openness, I decided to shed light on a professional principle that has so far played a rather marginal role in the research landscape of OKJA. In my study, I was able to work out that there is no such thing as openness and that openness does not produce itself. Rather, against the backdrop of the complex, sometimes contradictory everyday life of OKJA, openness must be interpreted as an action in and of the in-between, relationally, discursively and conditionally. In my opinion, there is therefore a need for a new awareness of casuistic openness analyses in everyday social pedagogical practice, but also an examination of the question of whether the previous perspectives on "openness" in social work theories are still up to date and what further theoretical development is required. In addition, in view of the cutbacks in the welfare state and societal deficits in openness for children and young people, a strong plea is needed in terms of child and youth policy for the preservation of these open places, which also point to young people's right to retreat and privacy. The question is rather: how should open spaces be designed? To answer this question, we need an open and understanding knowledge of the different practices and interests of young people in practice, both those who use the social infrastructure and those who do not. In a sense, it is about the ability to adapt to different circumstances and at the same time remain flexible in order to be an expert in a long-term, indeterminate everyday life."
Prof. Dr. Regina Rätz, who teaches social work with a focus on child and youth welfare at ASH Berlin and provided Jennifer Hübner with academic support during her doctorate, says: "I am delighted that Jennifer Hübner has successfully completed her doctorate. This is not only a milestone in her academic career, but also for the Alice Salomon University of Applied Sciences Berlin, which has been committed to giving its graduates the opportunity to do a doctorate since the 1990s. The fact that this long-standing commitment has brought success is also reflected in the new Berlin Higher Education Act passed in 2021, which now also provides for direct doctorates at universities in the state of Berlin."
Jennifer Hübner completed her doctorate at the Doctoral Center for Social Work in Hesse at the Frankfurt University of Applied Science, which has had the right to award doctorates in social work since 2017. Her first supervisor was Prof. Dr. Lotte Rose.
On April 1, 2025, the Department of Social Work will once again be offering a new doctoral qualification position. The job advertisement will be published on the Job Offers page in the course of November.
You can find further information on doctoral funding at ASH Berlin on the page Promoting Young Researchers.