Our series re.searched presents researchers of the St. Pölten UAS. This time: Katharina Auer-Voigtländer, researcher at the Ilse Arlt Institute for Social Inclusion Research.

To me, curiosity means…

… not being satisfied with accepting apparently given things. For me, it means being interested in looking behind the scenes and trying to identify seemingly trivial links.

I do research because…

… society develops constantly, which means that knowledge regarding social relationships is always subject to change and has to be examined closely again and again. You can never presume to have found the “right” answer at any given point. You have to remain curious or you will get nowhere.

In the next 20 years, our society will be characterised by…

… social challenges such as the growth of the older population, a growing gap between the rich and the poor, and increasing social fragmentation. As a consequence, it is becoming more and more important to deal with these developments at an empirical and analytical level in order to be able to answer the questions of the near future.

About the person

Katharina Auer-Voigtländer, BA, MA works as a researcher at the Ilse Arlt Institute for Social Inclusion Research of the St Pölten UAS. The trained social worker completed the bachelor and master degree programmes for Social Work at the St. Pölten UAS and well as the certificate course for family council coordination at the same university. Katharina Auer-Voigtländer currently writes her doctoral thesis at the University of Vechta within the framework of the doctoral study course “Social Work: Deviance and Cohesion” at the University of Vechta and the University of Applied Sciences Emden/Leer.

More about the research at the St. Pölten UAS