About us
International Fellowship Programme for Female Leadership

The Sophia Institute Programme finances the studies of female doctoral students from the Global South and creates the opportunity for communal living. The students receive professional support through mentoring and spiritual guidance. Practical assignments and educational formats bring the perspective of the scholarship holders to Austrian society in the spirit of global learning.

Focal points of the programme

  • Qualification of women from the Global South for leadership roles in science, the church and other areas of society.

    Women play a central role in development co-operation and in the socio-cultural process of society in the Global South. People with an education in theology, philosophy and religious education often occupy key positions in education and social services, but also in peace-building and interreligious dialogue. Women with academic qualifications are still underrepresented in many countries around the world, especially in the Global South. Our aim is to promote women in order to enable greater diversity and equality.

  • Intercultural networking and exchange at the Faculty of Catholic Theology and beyond.

    The presence of international students and the multicultural composition of the student body represent a particular value of our faculty. They change the form of university teaching and learning and create access to new experiences for everyone involved. Global partnership and intercultural understanding are promoted and sustainable relationships between graduates and their place of study are established. In cooperation with the Diocese of Innsbruck, the Sophia Institute also arranges practical assignments and organises educational events in the spirit of global learning.

The Sophia Institute Innsbruck is funded by the Faculty of Catholic Theology at the University of Innsbruck. The project is supported by an advisory board, which awards the scholarships according to academic criteria. The advisory board consists of representatives from the University of Innsbruck, the Diocese of Innsbruck and development cooperation.

The Faculty of Catholic Theology at the University of Innsbruck has also established itself as a supra-regional training centre for the global church context due to its connection with the Jesuit order. More than 100 students from all over the world are currently enrolled in the Faculty's doctoral programmes.

The Faculty is committed to the mission of Herlinde Pissarek-Hudelist, who became the world's first female dean of a Faculty of Catholic Theology in 1989. Even at that time, she wanted to promote feminist theology and support women in these fields. Her commitment and her endeavours to promote women remain our mission to this day.

The Faculty of Catholic Theology has many decades of experience in supporting students from all over the world. It trains people who fulfil leadership roles in various areas in their home countries, in educational institutions, in social and health care, in pastoral work, in peace work and in the media. The Sophia Institute Innsbruck qualifies multipliers who support and promote holistic development.

The Diocese of Innsbruck supports this endeavour because it is aware of the importance of internationality in the field of theology and the qualification of people from different contexts in this area. The universal church in the wake of the Second Vatican Council lives in the diversity of its local churches. These must develop their theology, which is culturally and contextually different. Enabling a common learning path for the global church requires the churches of the global South to acquire skills in dealing with the European tradition, but for European theology it also requires encounters, dialogue with and learning from the theologies of the global South.

The Advisory Board is made up of the following members with equal voting rights:

  • Associate Professor Dr Wilhelm Guggenberger (Dean of the Faculty of Catholic Theology Innsbruck)
  • Astrid Flir (Project Assistant of the Sophia Institute)
  • Vicar General Roland Buemberger (Diocese of Innsbruck)
  • Ms Julia Stabentheiner (Head of the Welthaus of the Diocese of Innsbruck)
  • Dr Ilsemarie Weiffen (Episcopal Representative for Religious Orders and Spiritual Communities in the Diocese of Innsbruck)
  • Dr Christoph Kogler (Managing Director of the Jesuit College)
  • Prof Dr Gregor Weihs (Vice-Rector for Research, University of Innsbruck)
  • Associate Professor Dr Josef Quitterer (Doctoral College Philosophy of Religion)
  • Univ.-Prof. Dr. Stefan Hofmann (Doctoral Programme Catholic Theology in a Globalised World)
  • Prof. Katherine Dormandy, DPhil (representative of Sophia forscht)
  • Associate Professor Dr Andreas Vonach (Department of Biblical Studies and Historical Theology)
  • Ass.-Prof. Dr Anni Findl-Ludescher (Head of the Department of Practical Theology)
  • Ass.-Prof. Dr Michaela Quast-Neulinger, MA (Department of Systematic Theology)

Nach oben scrollen