Intro

The Interdisciplinary Centre for Educational Research (IZfB) is an interfaculty central scientific institution of the University of Duisburg-Essen (UDE). In order to do justice to the great importance of basic research as well as transfer- and practice-oriented applied research in the field of education, the IZfB links interdisciplinary educational research and develops it further. The interdisciplinary focus can be seen in the anchoring of education-related topics far beyond the Faculty of Education – for example, the various teaching methodologies, educational policy and educational sociology issues in the social sciences, as well as discipline-related and cross-disciplinary issues across all eleven faculties of the UDE. The IZfB networks around 230 UDE education researchers.

The fundamental aim is to promote educational research and corresponding development projects.

Research funding: The IZfB provides support during all project phases, from proposal preparation through to the publication of the research results, including, for example, start-up financing, a scanning service for the automatic entry of questionnaire data, and support with the proofreading of foreign-language publications.

Promotion of junior academics: The IZfB oversees the training and networking of the candidates by organising workshops for method training and development as well as by promoting conference visits and residencies abroad. As proof of additionally-acquired competencies, the IZfB has since 2018 allowed candidates to acquire the Interdisciplinary Educational Research certificate during their doctoral studies.

Networking: By offering various lecture series and supporting the organisation of conferences, the IZfB promotes internal and external networking among educational researchers at the UDE. In order to promote visits to the UDE by high-ranking, international educational researchers, the IZfB in 2019 announced for the first time an IZfB Visiting Professor Scholarship lasting at least four weeks.