Former Team Members
Project leaders:
Dr. Cathleen Bochmann
studied political science, communication science and philosophy in Dresden, with short fellowships in the USA and Pakistan. She then taught social science, social studies and philosophy at various vocational schools. Since 2009 she has been teaching and researching at the Department of Political Systems and Comparative Politics at TU Dresden, where she received her PhD in 2017. Under the impressions of angry citizen protests during the refugee crisis, she developed the project proposal together with the practical partners and functions as the project manager.
Work and research focus:
state stability
evolutionary institutional research
comparative systems, in particular research into parliamentarianism
Dr. Willi Hetze
born 1985, studied sociology and psychology at the TU Dresden and received his doctorate in 2016 at the University of Erfurt. His work focuses on new media as a data basis for social science research. He works as a PR consultant and editor in the publishing industry and as a volunteer in the literature business, e. g. as a moderator of various cultural events and readings. He has been awarded various prizes for his fictional publications. Within the framework of the KDZ, he found ways to stabilize communication norms in order to preserve or establish the ability for dialogue between different interest groups.
Work and research focus:
- Media and Sociology of Communication
- Theory and Methods of Social Science Film and Video Analysis
- Research Logic, Methods of Empirical Social Research
- Hermeneutics and knowledge sociology
- social psychology
Dr. Ulrike Schumacher
studied sociology, German and political science in Bamberg and Berlin. At the Social Science Research Center Berlin, she did her doctorate on the topic “Future of Work”. In research and development projects at the TU Berlin, the University of Applied Sciences Zittau/Görlitz and a Saxon state authority, she investigated the role of citizens in shaping local quality of life. A multi-perspectival attitude and understanding of common problems - such as the state of our community or planet - are important to her. In the KDZ project she analysed ways to achieve this and provided practical support.
Work and research focus:
- Citizen participation, self-organisation and cross-sector cooperation in rural development
- Transformation research and management
- science-practice dialogue
David Gäbel, M.A.
studied sociology as well as further education research and organisational development at the TU Dresden and volunteered in the field of asylum. He then worked in the context of migration and integration as a coordinator and contact person for cities, municipalities and other relevant functionaries and responsible persons. In this context, he designed and organised further training events and set up a pool of volunteers for sponsorship and interpreters. With the KDZ project he made a contribution to a reflected and conflict-conscious exchange, towards a public-constructive coexistence and a stronger overall social cohesion.
Work and research focus:
- Sociology of work and organisation
- Networking, knowledge transfer and communication at local level
- Internships as instruments to promote integration and orientation