Research

Within the framework of Three-generation longitudinal study LifE, family intergenerational relationships and educational processes are examined from a life course perspective and intergenerational transmission processes across three generations in the area of education and upbringing are analysed. With a duration of more than four decades and a sample size of over 2000 people from three generations with family ties, the LifE study is one of the longest three-generation longitudinal studies.

The Generation and Gender Panel Survey Programme focuses on parent-child relationships and gender issues. It consists of several panel waves that can be compared across countries. More than 30 countries are participating in the study. The research group is a member of the consortium for the next wave (2026-2028) of the GGP in Austria.

The Department of Intergenerational Relations, Education and Youth Research is playing a leading role in setting up the longitudinal and cohort study GUIDE (Growing Up in Digital Europe)in Austria. From 2028, data on growing up and development from infancy to young adulthood under the conditions of accelerated social change and digitalisation will be collected in the individual European countries and country comparisons will be carried out. The planned comparative longitudinal study will be internationally unique and will cover a period of more than two decades. In the coming years, it promises to become an important scientific basis for child, youth and education policy efforts to improve the living conditions of adolescents and their families.

Anthropogenic climate change and environmental degradation raise the questions of how we humans view our relationship with nature and our fellow creatures, how we could organise our coexistence in a more ecological and socially just way and what role education plays or could play in this. There are various teaching and research activities on this topic.

The teaching and research area also has a long tradition of supporting the European Erasmus+ youth education programmes. In the 2014 to 2020 programme period, it was the official Austrian and Liechtenstein research partner for the scientific investigation of the European youth education programmes and has also been awarded this role for the 2021 to 2027 programme period. Studies on the scientific monitoring of the "Erasmus+ Youth" (RAY-MON) and "European Solidarity Corps" (RAY-SOC) programmes in Austria and Liechtenstein as well as on the long-term effects of Erasmus+ Youth in Europe (RAY-LTE) are ongoing. The effects of the coronavirus pandemic on youth work in Europe (RAY-COR) and the strategic contributions of European youth programmes (RAY-STRAT) were also examined. The accompanying research is being conducted on behalf of the OeAD (Austrian Agency for Education and Internationalisation in Vienna) and AIBA (Agency for International Educational Affairs in Liechtenstein). It is embedded in the European RAY research network (Research-based analysis of European youth programmes).

Evaluation work is currently underway on two regional longitudinal youth studies in Tyrol , in which the Teaching and Research Department, in cooperation with the Department of Teacher Education and School Research, has analysed school transitions from primary school to lower secondary level and from lower secondary level to upper secondary level against the theoretical background of a resource model of coping with transitions. As these longitudinal studies took place during the coronavirus pandemic (2019-2023), they make it possible to examine not only questions relating to the resource requirements for coping with school transitions, but also important issues relating to coping with the demands of distance learning and a possible increase in educational inequality as a result of the pandemic.

In addition, a large number of qualification theses at habilitation, doctoral and master's level are currently underway in the area of teaching and research .