News
March 2025: Online spring conference 'Self-employment in care and nursing' on 27 March 2025
The research group ‘Work.Care.Sociology’ at the University of Innsbruck, in cooperation with the working group ‘The Work of the Self-Employed’, is organising an online conference on Thursday, 27 March 2025 on the topic of ‘Self-employment in care and nursing’. During the half-day online conference from 9.30 am to 1 pm, various presentations will shed light on the diverse perspectives on self-employed work in the care sector. The conference will be held in German. Please register in advance. All information on the event, registration and the conference programme can be found here.
March 2025: Announcement - Presentation by Carla Scheytt as part of the ‘Sociological Lectures’ of the Institute of Sociology at the University of Vienna
On 21 May 2025, Carla Scheytt will give a presentation entitled ‘Between Principles and Practice: Ethical Reflexivity in Qualitative Social Research’ at the Institute of Sociology at the University of Vienna. The lecture will deal with the concept of ‘ethical reflexivity’ and present current results of the ongoing dissertation project on research ethics in qualitative sociology. The talk will be followed by a panel discussion with representatives of qualitative and quantitative inequality research. The ‘Sociological Lectures’ of the Institute of Sociology at the University of Vienna will focus on ‘Reflexivity and positionality in sociological inequality research’ in the summer term 2025. All further information on the lecture series can be found here.
September 2024: New article on ethical challenges in qualitative social research published
What ethical challenges do qualitative sociologists face in the research process? Carla Scheytt and Jessica Pflüger address this question in their article ‘Ethical challenges in qualitative sociology: a systematic literature review’ in the journal ‘Frontiers in Sociology’. Based on a systematic literature review of 72 articles, they present eleven ethical issues that qualitative sociologists reflect on regarding research ethics. The article is available
and has been published open access.
22.08.2024: Announcement - Two presentations of the research group Mesosociology at the 16th conference of the European Sociological Association (ESA) in Porto
From 27 to 30 August 2024, the conference of the European Sociological Association will take place in Porto under the theme ‘Tension, Trust and Transformation’. The research group Mesosociology will be represented with two presentations.
On 28 August, Katharina Mojescik will present ‘Digital Nomadism - New Opportunities And Tensions Of Location-Independent Work" as part of the ‘Space & Collective Bargaining’ session. In her talk, she will give findings of her field research on digital nomads in Madeira (Portugal) and discuss the phenomenon of digital nomads as a new lifestyle in the context of the transformation of work.
On the same day, Carla Scheytt will give a presentation in the session ‘Emotions in Ethnographic Methodologies’ on the topic ‘Understanding Research Ethics Beyond Principles: Trust, Transformation, and Tension as Ethical Dimensions’. She will present results from her dissertation project and explain how qualitative sociologists understand research ethics. Further information on the conference and the program can be found
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May 2024 - New publication on changing solidarity relations in AIS studies
Recently, the article ‘Solidarity Relationships in Transition. An analysis of the effects of location independence using the example of digital nomads’ by Dr. Katharina Mojescik was published in AIS Studies. The article and the entire issue on ‘Solidarity in the working world. Current challenges and perspectives’ can be downloaded
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March 2024: Foundation of the new Research Group Work.Care.Sociology at the Institute of Sociology
Jessica Pflüger, Katharina Mojescik and Bernhard Weicht will be conducting joint research in the newly founded "Work.Care.Sociology" research group from 2024. Work and care are two fundamental pillars of modern societies and are closely intertwined. Over the next three years, the research group, funded by the University of Innsbruck, will make a substantial contribution to the further development of conceptual debates, empirical research and the expansion of methodological tools for extensive research into an integrative concept of work and care.
18.03.2024: New paper published on research ethics in organizational research
How can (specific) ethical challenges in organizational research be identified and anticipated? Carla Scheytt and Jessica Pflüger address this question in their recently published paper "Conducting Qualitative Research in Organizations Ethically: Organizationality as a Heuristic to Identify Ethical Challenges" in the "International Journal of Qualitative Methods". Based on the concept of "organizationality", the paper highlights typical ethical challenges that may arise during the research process and proposes recommendations for organizational researchers. The article has been published open access and is available
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15.11.2023: Announcement – Presentation by Carla Scheytt at the Conference „Red Lines, Red Tapes: Ethical Challenges in Sensitive Research in Social Sciences and Humanities“ in Warsaw
From 30 November to 2 December 2023, the conference "Red Lines, Red Tapes: Ethical Challenges in Sensitive Research in Social Sciences and Humanities" will be held at the University of Warsaw. This conference is organized by the Abortion the Abortion Figurations ERC Consolidator project at the University of Warsaw. Carla Scheytt will give a presentation entitled "From vulnerability to organizationality: how to identify potential harm to participants in qualitative social research". Further information on the conference can be found
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27.10.2023: Announcement - Call for Papers: Special volume of the Social World on self-employed work
Katharina Mojescik is co-editing a special volume of the journal "Soziale Welt," one of the leading sociological journals in the Germany. The special volume is titled "Dissemination, Dissonances, Depictions: On the Status of Self-Employed Work in Contemporary Societies". This special volume aims to explore the multifaceted aspects of self-employment, offering a comprehensive overview of the challenges, opportunities, and dynamics associated with this form of work. It aims to bring together a diverse range of perspectives, research, and case studies that shed light on the dissemination, dissonances, and depictions of self-employed work. A call for abstracts is currently open. Contributions can be submitted in German and English. Abstracts must be submitted by December 6th. All contributions will undergo a double-blind peer review process. The detailed call is linked
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18.09.2023: Announcement - Early Stage Funding for Carla Scheytt
We congratulate Carla Scheytt on the approval of the project "Research Ethics in Qualitative Social Research - A Methodological Comparative Interview Study" at the Early Stage Funding of the University of Innsbruck. In the project period from 10/23 to 09/24, Carla Scheytt will investigate how qualitative researchers deal with ethical challenges in the research process. As part of the dissertation project, interviews with sociologists have already been conducted in digital form. In the context of the now-approved project, she will conduct interviews with sociologists in a face-to-face format and analyze to what extent the interview data differ concerning their quality. The project will thus contribute to the research of ethical practice on the one hand and to the methodological debate on the digitalization of qualitative methods on the other.
The Early Stage Funding of the University of Innsbruck supports projects of young researchers.
13.09.2023: Announcement - Presentation by Katharina Mojescik at the Work, Employment and Society Conference 2023
From September 13th to 15th, 2023, the Work, Employment, and Society Conference 2023 took place in Glasgow, where Katharina Mosjescik presented a lecture titled "Digital Nomads: Lifestyle of the resistant self?" Her presentation is a part of her ongoing qualitative research on Digital Nomads, providing profound insights into the lifestyle of this phenomenon and its impact on the modern workforce.
Further information can be found
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06.07.2023: Announcement - Research Project: Automation and Social Research - Qualitative-empirical Insights on the Fundamental Change of Social Science Knowledge Production
We are pleased to announce the research project "Automation and Social Research - Qualitative-empirical Insights on the Fundamental Change of Social Science Knowledge Production". In this project, Prof. Pflüger will investigate the influence of new automation tendencies on social science knowledge production as a cooperation partner with Prof. Dr. Yvonne Berger from the Technical University of Rosenheim (Germany).
The project assumes that the increasing use of digital resources is fundamentally changing social science research. Based on four case studies, research questions explored include:
- How is increasing automation changing the way in which social science data are collected and analyzed?
- In what ways does this affect social scientific knowledge?
- How does automation change the role of researchers in social science knowledge production?
- What is a possible future for the automation of research? What visions are being formulated, practiced and observed from within the scientific community?
In this context, a position as research assistant (f/m/d) at the Rosenheim University of Applied Sciences (starting 01.11.2023) is currently available. This position includes the participation in data collection and analysis, the resulting publications, as well as the coordination of project activities. If you are interested, we look forward to receiving your application!
Further information (German only) can be found
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08.06.2022: Announcement - Two presentations of the research group Mesosociology at the ÖGS Congress, Tuesday 1.30 - 3 pm
The congress of the Austrian Sociological Association will take place in Vienna from July 03 to 05. The research group Mesosociology will be present with two presentations at the ÖGS Congress.
On Tuesday, 04th, Katharina Mojescik will give a lecture entitled
as part of the Ad-Hoc-Group "Socially and ecologically sustainable mobility in cities: potentials and limits of cooperation". In the presentation, she will discuss the results of her
in Germany and explore the question of how such novel mobile actors are embedded in urban transformation processes.
Also on Tuesday, Carla Scheytt will present a lecture in the Ad-Hoc-session "Crisis as Normality? A Constructive View on 'Failure' and 'Mistake' in Qualitative Social Research" on the topic of
. She will discuss researchers’ understanding of ethically challenging moments and how they deal with them.
Those interested are kindly invited to attend! Further information about the ÖGS Congress (German only) can be found
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20.03.2023: Looking back – Presentation the meeting of the Working group “Qualitative Methoden in der Geographie und der raumsensiblen Sozial- und Kulturforschung” (working group qualitative methods in geography)
On March 13-14, “AK Qualitative Methoden” (Working Group Qualitative Methods) organized a conference on the topic "Verantwortung übernehmen – Reflektionen zu Forschungsethik, Datenschutz und Forschungsdatenmanagement in der Qualitativen Forschung“ (Taking Responsibility - Reflections on Research Ethics, Privacy and Research Data Management in Qualitative Research). Carla Scheytt held a presentation with the title "Forschungsethische Herausforderungen in der qualitativen Sozialforschung – ein systematischer Überblick“ (Research Ethical Challenges in Qualitative Social Research - A Systematic Overview). The talk presented first results from a systematic literature review of journal articles on research ethics challenges in sociology.
The program and more information about the working group can be found
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16.01.2023: Early Stage Funding for Katharina Mojescik
We congratulate Katharina Mojescik on the funding of her project "Employment Trajectories of Digital Nomads: The Interplay of Digitalized Employment and Mobility" by the Early Stage Funding of the University of Innsbruck. During the project period from 01/2023 to 12/2023, Katharina Mojescik will research how mobility is embedded in the employment trajectories of digital nomads and how the digitized daily work routine is aligned with expectations of mobility. Early Stage Funding is competitive research funding for early-career scientists. We are looking forward to the findings and accompanying publications.
For further information on the program (German only) please visit
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12.12.2022: New publication "Doing Research"
Transcript Verlag released the anthology "Doing Research - Wissenschaftspraktiken zwischen Positionierung und Suchanfrage", edited by Sandra Hofhues and Konstanze Schütze. In this book, Katharina Mojescik, in collaboration with Angela Tillmann (TH Köln), has contributed an article on "Forschungsorganisation an Hochschulen für angewandte Wissenschaften“ ( = Research Organization at Universities of Applied Sciences). The articles are available online in Open Access.
For further information (in German) please go
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Hofhues, S., & Schütze, K. (2022). Doing Research-Wissenschaftspraktiken zwischen Positionierung und Suchanfrage. Transcript Verlag (ISBN: 978-3-8376-5632-9).
25.11.2022: New publication “Lexikon der Arbeits- und Industriesoziologie“
The third edition of the "Lexikon der Arbeits- und Industriesoziologie" will be published by Nomos Verlag in December 2022. Among the nearly 100 articles is also a contribution by Jessica Pflüger on the subject “Fallstudie” (= case study). The encyclopedia provides a comprehensive overview of current knowledge in the field of labour and industrial sociology, including much-discussed recent topics within the discipline.
For further information (in German) please go
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Bohn, Hirsch-Kreinsen, Pfeiffer & Will-Zocholl. (2022). Lexikon der Arbeits- und Industriesoziologie (3. Aufl.). Nomos Verlag (ISBN 978-3-8487-8679-4).
25.11.2022: Announcement: Inaugural lecture by Prof. Jessica Pflüger on 6 December 2022, 5 pm
We are pleased to invite to the inaugural lecture of Prof. Jessica Pflüger, entitled "Konturen einer zeitgenössischen Mesosoziologie " on 6 December 2022. The lecture starts at 5 pm in the Kaiser-Leopold-Saal (address; Karl-Rahner-Platz 3, 2nd floor).
In her lecture, Jessica Pflüger will outline the contours of contemporary meso-sociology by tracing starting points and approaches in order to better understand middle-range phenomena.
For further information (in German) go to:
https://www.uibk.ac.at/events/2022/12/06/antrtittsvorlesung-univ.-prof.in-dr.in-jessica-pflueger
20.10.2022: Looking back at the 2nd Platform Conference
The “Haus der Selbstständigen” in Leipzig hosted the 2nd Platform Conference "Digitalisierung selbstständiger Arbeit" (Digitalisation of Self-Employed Work) in cooperation with the working group "Die Arbeit der Selbstständigen" (The Work of the Self-Employed) on 13/14 October 2022. As a spokesperson of the working group, Katharina Mojescik was part of the organisation team. Further, she also held a presentation with the title "Digital Nomads. Characteristics, employment concepts and networking strategies of the pioneers of location-independent (platform) work". She discussed the relevance of platforms and the heterogeneous employment concepts of location-independent workers who consider themselves digital nomads.
A detailed report (in German) on the conference can be found
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03.08.2022: Announcement: Presentation at the DGS Congress, Tuesday, 12- 5 pm
The Congress of the German Sociological Association will be held in Bielefeld from 26.09. to 30.09.2022. On 27.09.2022 the session of the section "Qualitative Methods" will take place with the focus on "Protection for or against social research? Scientific ethics in discussion". There, Carla Scheytt and Jessica Pflüger will give the presentation "Research ethics, the field and the context. How organisationally influences research ethics challenges". In their presentation, they discuss specific research ethics challenges that arise when conducting research in and with organisations. Those interested are kindly invited to attend!
Further information on the DGS Congress can be found
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01.07.2022: New student assistant
We are pleased to welcome Marie Plumpe as a new student assistant in our team. She will support us in research activities and administration in the future. We look forward to working together.
24.05.2022: New publication: "Selbstständigkeit in der Gastronomie"
Katharina Mojescik has published her doctoral thesis „Selbstständigkeit in der Gastronomie. Eine arbeitssoziologische Untersuchung unternehmerischen Handelns am Beispiel von Food Trucker*innen“ (= Self-employment in gastronomy. A sociological study of entrepreneurial activity using the example of food truckers). By focusing on entrepreneurs, their interactions and motives in the analysis, self-employment in (mobile) gastronomy is examined in depth. In order to explore and explain the entrepreneurial activities of food truckers, Katharina Mojescik elaborates the intersection of the sociology of work, food and culture. Through Grounded Theory approach, the study identifies central embedding dimensions of self-employment in gastronomy, as well as relevant stages of entrepreneurial activity and differing strategies of entrepreneurial action in this context. The book is published by Springer Verlag and can be found
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16.05.2022: DOC-Scholarship from the Austrian Academy of Sciences for Carla Scheytt
Congratulations to our doctoral student Carla Scheytt on successfully acquiring a DOC scholarship from the Austrian Academy of Sciences!
The competitive funding program supports highly qualified doctoral students from all areas of research. Over the next three years, Carla will conduct empirical research at the interface of sociology of science, organizational sociology and methods of social research on the topic of "research ethics in sociology". We look forward to it and are excited to see the results!
14.04.2022: New preprint on research ethics in organizations published
Anyone who conducts research in companies knows that everyone knows each other. What does this mean for questions of anonymization, data protection, confidentiality? Carla Scheytt (RUB) and Jessica Pfluger (UIBK) recently published a paper as a preprint on SocArXiv.
For more:
Scheytt, Carla, and Pfluger, Jessica. 2022. Research Ethics in Organizations. An overview of challenges and practical approaches. SocArXiv. doi:10.31235/osf.io/c426a.
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29.03.2022: We are looking for student employees
If you are interested in work, organizational and/or economic sociology, we look forward to receiving your application! (until 18.04.2022)
https://lfuonline.uibk.ac.at/public/karriereportal.details?asg_id_in=12481
