Section: Work and Equal Opportunities

Function: Researcher and Project Leader

Contact:

• Phone: ++43-1-495 04 42 / 63
• Fax: ++43-1-495 04 42 / 40
• Email: wolter@zsi.at

Publications:

• Through the eyes of a child: the meaning and negotiation of integration from the perspective of pupils in Vienna (2024)
• Social innovations in and with the welfare state (2024) (Primary Author)
• Datensatz "Befragung von Schüler*innen an Wiener Schulen" und "Interviews mit Lehrer*innen an Wiener Schulen" (2023)
• Report on the Situation of Young Adults not in Employment, Education, or Training (2022)
• Contested integration: hegemony projects in the field of education in Austria (2022)
• Waiting in the Austrian asylum system: The well-being of asylum-seeking children in a phase of liminality (2022)

Work and research focus:

Stella Louise Wolter is a social scientist with an interdisciplinary academic background in political science and anthropology. She has many years of professional experience as a researcher and project leader in national and international projects (e.g. Horizon Europe) in both the public and private sectors. She is currently also a PhD candidate at the University of Vienna, where she is investigating the different integration processes of migrant children in Austria from an intersectional perspective by examining their different social positions as well as the broader structures of inequality in which they are embedded.

Due to her academic and professional experience, she is well versed in developing a research design, applying different scientific methods (e.g. (expert) interviews, focus groups, surveys, participant observation), analysing public policies and writing high quality reports as well as policy recommendations. She is experienced in co-creation and upscaling processes, art-based methods as well as evaluations and social impact assessments. In addition, she is well trained in general project and staff management.

Stella's research findings has been published in high impact academic journals (e.g. Critical Policy Studies (Routledge), Children and Society (Wiley)) and she has presented them at international conferences (e.g. IMISCOE, ECPR, CES), in workshops for various stakeholders (clients include AMS and OeAD) and in BA as well as MA courses at the University of Vienna.

Her research focuses on social inequalities, intersectionality, migration and asylum, inclusion/exclusion, discrimination, vulnerable groups, youth, education and ethnography

Running and completed projects:

• MEET - Mental Well-Being in Education for Disadvantaged Youth (2024)
• Health Labs4Value (2023, project leader)
• WeLaR - Welfare systems and labour market policies for economic and social resilience in Europe (2022)
• Lost Millennials - Lost Millennials - Transnational research network for the evaluation of initiatives targeting 25+ NEETs (2021)
• TAAFE - Towards an Alpine Age - Friendly Environment (2019)

Other Publications:

Wolter, S., & Sauer, B. (2024). Through the eyes of a child: the meaning and negotiation of integration from the perspective of pupils in Vienna. Revista Española de Sociología, 33, 1, a216. https://doi.org/10.22325/fes/res.2024.216

Wolter, S.,  Tatzber, R.,  Sauer, B. (2023).  Waiting in the Austrian asylum system: The well-being of asylum-seeking children in a phase of liminality. Children & Society,  37,  806–819. https://doi.org/10.1111/chso.12630

Dursun, A., Wolter, S., Liepold, M., Buschmann, D., Sauer, B. (2023). Contested Integration: Hegemony Projects in the Field of Education in Austria. Critical Policy Studies, 17, 3, 464–483. https://doi.org/10.1080/19460171.2022.2149582

Wolter, S., Liepold, M., Tatzber, R. (2022). Schulen als multikultureller Lebensraum: Ein Lehrerhandbuch. Micreate Project. Vienna, University of Vienna. https://micreate.eu/wp-content/img/German%20manual%20for%20teachers%20OFFICIAL%2021.6.2022.pdf

Cakir, A., Wolter, S., Liepold, M., Sauer, B. (2021). Intersectional Contestations – the Meaning of Integration of ‚Migrant‘ Pupils in Austrian School. Koper, Annales. https://doi.org/10.19233/ASHS.2020.39

Wolter, S., Liepold, M., Tatzber, R. (2021). Case Study Report: Migrant Children in Transition (Micreate Project Report). https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.27032.81922

Wolter, S., Liepold, M., Tatzber, R. (2021). National Report on Qualitative Research – Long Term Resident Migrant Children – Austria (Micreate Project Report).

Wolter, S., Liepold, M., Tatzber, R. (2021). National Survey Analysis – Newly Arrived Migrant Children, Long Term Resident Migrant Children, Local Children – Austria (Micreate Project Report). 

Cakir, A., Wolter, S., Liepold, M. (2020). National Report on Educational Community and School System: Austria (Micreate Project Report). https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.13611.04640

Dursun, A., Wolter, S., Liepold, M., Buschmann, D., Sauer, B. (2019). Snapshot of Good Practices for Integration of Migrant Children – Austria (Micreate Project Report). 

Education and career:

2023 - 2025: PhD in Political Science, University of Vienna

2022 - today: Project Evaluator at SozialMarie - Prize for Social Innovation

2022 - today: Researcher and Project Manager at the Centre for Social Innovation

2021 - 2022: Pre Doctoral Researcher at the University of Vienna

2019 - today: Lecturer at the University of Vienna

2019 - 2021: MA in Cultural Differences and Transnational Processes, University of Vienna

2019 - 2021: Scientific Project Staff at the University of Vienna

2017: Internships at the German Institute of Global and Area Studies, Goethe-Institut Taiwan and ORF

2015 - 2019: BA in Political Science, University of Vienna

2014 - 2018: BA in Cultural and Social Anthropology, University of Vienna

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