Research Activities

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Bio-sketch

Dr. Eberhard Raithelhuber is a social scientist based in social pedagogy and social work. He has published on child and youth care, social support and intervention, social mentoring, disadvantaged social groups and social exclusion, youth and young adults, transitions in the life course, regional development and networks, mobilities, refugees, social policy, citizenship and democracy, transnationalism and migration, and agency. Dr. Raithelhuber has rich experience in student-centered teaching and community-engaged research and practice, including at an international level, for which he frequently collaborates with social partners. 

In September 2021, he joined Bertha von Suttner Private University, Austria, as Professor for Social Intervention and Transformation, where he also serves as Member of the Senate (2022-25). He was awarded the “venia docendi” (highest authorization to teach) for the subject “educational science” from the University of Salzburg, Austria, in 2019.

From 2024 to 2026, he is leading the ERASMUS+ Cooperation Partnership "Mentoring for Social Inclusion: Sharing Knowledge and Building Capacity", Ment4EU for short, in which five universities in Austria, Belgium, Ireland, the Netherlands and Spain are working together. He is Co-Editor-in-Chief of the peer-reviewed, open-access, bilingual journal “Österreichisches Jahrbuch für Soziale Arbeit – Annual Review of Social Work and Social Pedagogy in Austria”, OeJS for short, which he co-founded in 2018. In the same year, he became co-editor of the textbook series “Studienmodule Soziale Arbeit”, the most successful series of its kind in German. Since 2016 he has been acting as Member of the Board of the Section Social Pedagogy of the Austrian Association of Research and Development in Education, ÖFEB. In 2023, he was appointed to the Researchers Committee of Mentoring Europe, based in the Netherlands. In 2024, he was invited to join the Advisory Board of Mentoring Austria, the umbrella organization for mentoring initiatives in Austria.

Dr. Raithelhuber is familiar with qualitative methods and is experienced in dealing with issues such as data analysis and interpretations in multilingual and multicultural teams with diverse backgrounds.

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Academic Experience

Since 2021: Full Professor for Social Intervention and Transformation, Social Work Study Programme, Bertha von Suttner Private University St. Pölten, Austria

Since 2019: Privatdozent at the Paris Lodron University Salzburg, Austria

2014 – 2021: Assistant Professor at the Department of Educational Science, Paris Lodron University Salzburg, Austria

2013 – 14: Professor ad interim and Head of the Social Pedagogy Unit 1, Educational Science, Trier University, Germany

2011 – 2014: Post-doc researcher in the DFG Research Training Group “Transnational Social Support”, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Germany

2009 – 2011: Lecturer and Research Associate, Institute of Social and Organizational Pedagogy, University of Hildesheim Foundation, Germany

2005 – 2009: Member of the doctoral programme “Lifelong Learning“, Technical University of Dresden and scholarship for talented early-stage researchers through the Hans Böckler Foundation, both Germany

2005 – 2009: Freelance researcher at the IRIS e.V. Institute of Regional Innovation and Social Research, Dresden, Germany

2001 – 2005: Research Associate at the Institute of Social Pedagogy, Social Work and Welfare Studies, Technical University of Dresden, Germany

Academic Training

2019: Awarded the authorization to teach (“venia docendi”) for the subject “educational science” by the University of Salzburg, Austria

2010: Awarded the academic title “Doktor der Philosophie” (Dr. phil.) by the TU Dresden, Germany

1995 – 2001: Diploma Studies in “Educational Science”, core subject: Social Pedagogy; minors: European Ethnology/Cultural Studies, Sociology, Psychology, University of Tübingen, Germany

1993 – 1995: Master studies in Indology and Educational Science (not completed), University of Tübingen, Germany

Selected Publications

Raithelhuber, E. (2024). Mentoring for Social Inclusion: A Call for Social Work to Engage with an Emerging Model of Social Intervention. European Journal of Social Work, 27(5), 965–976. https://doi.org/10.1080/13691457.2023.2236319 

Raithelhuber, E. (2022). Welches Verständnis von “agency in transitions“ braucht die Übergangsforschung? Plädoyer für einen relational-relativistischen, nicht-anthropozentrischen Zugang. [Which Understanding of “Agency in Transitionss“ do Studies on Transitions Need? A Call for a Relational-relativistic, Non-anthropocentric Approach]. In S. Andresen, P. Bauer, B. Stauber, & A. Walther (Eds.), Doing Transitions – die Hervorbringung von Übergängen im Lebenslauf: Beiheft der Zeitschrift für Pädagogik (32-48). Beltz Juventa.

Raithelhuber, E. (2019). Rearranging Differential Inclusion through Civic Solidarity. Loose Coupling in Mentorship for ‘Unaccompanied Minors’. Social Inclusion, 7(2), 149–164. https://doi.org/10.17645/si.v7i2.1969

Raithelhuber, E. (2019). The Stilled-Other of the Citizen. “Roma beggars” and Regimes of (Im)mobility in an Austrian City. In T. Magazzini & S. Piemontese (Eds.), Constructing Roma Migrants: European Narratives and Local Governance (pp. 129–154). Cham: Springer Open. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11373-5_8

Raithelhuber, E., Sharma, N. & Schröer, W. (2018). The Intersection of Social Protection and Mobilities: a Move towards a ‘Practical Utopia’ Research Agenda. Mobilities, 13(5), 685–701. https://doi.org/10.1080/17450101.2018.1468592

Scientific Memberships

2022 – 25: Member of the University Senate at Bertha von Suttner Private University, St. Pölten, Austria

2020 – 22: Co-Chair of the Transnational Initiatives Committee and member of the Transnational Virtual Initiatives Committee, Society for the Study of Social Problems, USA

Since 2024: Member of the Advisory Board of Mentoring Austria. 

Since 2023: Member of the Researchers Committee of Mentoring Europe.

Since 2018: Co-Editor-in-Chief and Co-Founder of the bi-lingual journal “Österreichisches Jahrbuch für Soziale Arbeit – Annual Review of Social Work and Social Pedagogy in Austria”, OeJS for short. 

Since 2018: Co-Editor of the social work textbook series “Studienmodule Soziale Arbeit“, Beltz Juventa Publisher, Germany

Since 2016: Member of the Board of the Social Pedagogy Section of the ÖFEB - Austrian Association of Research and Development in Education

Since 2014: Liaison officer (Vertrauensdozent) for the department of study grants of the Hans Böckler Foundation, Germany