Prof. Dr. Thomas Hoffmann
Contact
Personal details
Research Focus
- Inclusive education and critical exclusion research
- Educational theory and development-oriented didactics
- Educational diagnostics
- General theory of education for people with disabilities
- Disability history and history of special education
Projects (selection)
- 2024–2026: DFG Network "Comedy and Disability at the Intersection of Cultural, Media, Social and Educational Studies"
- 2022–2027: The Flakhelfer generation of Special Education
- 2022–2025: Evaluation of the allocation practice for special educational needs (SEN) in Austria, funded by the Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research (BMBWF)
- 2021–2024: INNALP Education Hub, funded by the Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG)
- 2021–2023: Teaching and learning laboratory for inclusive education, funded by the University of Innsbruckuck
- 2021–2023: VEMAS – Behaviour Makes Sense, funded by the European Union (Erasmus+)
- 2019–2024: DFG Network "Inclusive Science Education" (NinU)
- 2019–2023: Inclusion and exclusion as formative experience and social practice
- 2018–2022: Cooperation on a common subject and the significance of things in inclusive science teaching
- 2018–2019: Learning objects for inclusive education: materials for digital environments, gefördert durch den Euregio Mobility Fund
- 2017–2021: Special education during the war: training schools for people with head injuries, 1914 to 1918
- 2014–2018: Education and training of children and young people with disabilities and an additional psychiatric diagnosis, funded by the Ministry of Education and Cultural Affairs of Baden-Württemberg, the Heidehof Foundation, the Lechler Foundation, and PH Ludwigsburg.
- 2014–2016: Empowerment and Exclusion (book project/editorial volume)
- 2007–2013: Historical-critical new edition of Kurt Goldstein's magnum opus "The Organism" (1934), supported by the German Society for the History of Neurology (DGGN)
- 2004–2010: Volition and development: problem areas, concepts, educational-psychological perspectives (dissertation)
- 2001–2006: Aspects of the reality of life for women and men with severe disabilities in residential facilities
Expert activities
- ACQUIN (accreditation commission)
- BMBF (expert opinion for research funding)
- CEPS – Centre for Educational Policy Studies (peer review)
- DGfE – German Society for Educational Science (peer review for conference contributions)
- Discourse on Childhood and Youth Research (peer review)
- Frontiers in Psychology (review editor in theoretical and philosophical psychology)
- HLZ – Herausforderung Lehrer_innenbildung (peer review)
- IFO – Inklusionsforscher*innentagung (scientific advisory board/peer review for conference contributions)
- Klinkhardt-Verlag (book programme)
- State of Tyrol (expert in the creation of the Tyrolean Action Plan for the Implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities)
- Nature – Scientific Reports (peer review)
- Austrian Academy of Sciences (expert opinion for doctoral funding)
- Austrian Parliament/National Council (statement for the Petitions Committee)
- University of Education Tyrol (expert opinion for curriculum development)
- QfI – Qualification for Inclusion (peer review)
- Societies – Open Access Journal (peer review)
- Special Educational Support Today (peer review)
- VHN – Quarterly Journal for Special Education and Related Fields (scientific advisory board)
- Scientific Commission of Lower Saxony (expert opinion for research funding)
Links
- Profile at ORCiD.org
- Profile at ResarchGate.net
- Profile at Academia.edu
Thomas Hoffmann, born in Hamburg in 1971, is an educational scientist and sociologist. After studying at the University of Hamburg and the Free University of Berlin, he worked from 1998 to 2002 as an educator in institutions for people with disabilities, as a case worker for adults with mental illness, and as a teacher in adult education. From 2001 to 2007, he was a research assistant at the Ludwigsburg University of Education and the University of Cologne. From 2007 to 2018, he was an academic advisor/senior advisor and received his doctorate in educational science in 2011. In 2015/2016, he represented the professorship for education for severe and multiple disabilities at the Heidelberg University of Education, and in 2016/2017 he was a visiting professor for rehabilitation sociology at Humboldt University in Berlin. From 2018 to 2024, he was professor of inclusive education at the University of Innsbruck. Since 2024, he has been Professor and Head of the Department of General Rehabilitation Education and Learning at Humboldt University, and since 2025, Head of the Centre for Inclusion Research Berlin (ZfIB).