Services for refugees support their integration. But how do supply and demand come together – and who takes care of this? A teaching research project at THWS provides some answers.
Published on 07 August 2025
Professional social work for refugees: This naturally requires social workers on the one hand and volunteers on the other. In order to gain an overview of volunteer management in refugee aid, the city of Würzburg approached the Faculty of Applied Social Sciences at the Technical University of Applied Sciences Würzburg-Schweinfurt (THWS) with a request for a joint project – and was directed to Professor Dr Dieter Kulke.
The framework conditions
Professor Dr. Kulke is a professor of sociology and head of the Qualitative Research Methods module in the master's programme in Social Work. Together with Dr. Ahmed Albaba, lecturer at THWS, he led the teaching research project, which arose from a request by the city of Würzburg. For almost a year, spanning two semesters, they worked with students from the master's programme in Social Work to investigate volunteer opportunities for the shared accommodation centre on Veitshöchheimer Straße in Würzburg.
The teaching research project had to meet several requirements: the formal requirements of the module handbook had to be reconciled with the requirements of the cooperation partners. The city of Würzburg was interested in an analysis of the voluntary services offered in the shared accommodation. "However, this is not purely contract research," emphasises Professor Dr. Kulke. "In addition to the specifications in the module handbook, the students should also have the opportunity to learn about different research methods and contribute their own research questions."
Field trips and interviews
In addition to data collection and subsequent analysis, the teaching research project included various other formats. These included a visit to the shared accommodation centre on Veitshöchheimer Straße. "We organised a field trip to the shared accommodation centre to familiarise ourselves with the field in which we would be conducting our research," said Professor Dr. Kulke. The field trip was an important part of the project, as it allowed the students to gain subjective impressions of the situation on the ground. Mareike Karges, a student in the master's programme in Social Work, recalls the visit: "It was my first time in a shared accommodation facility, and seeing this particular living situation and the conditions in which the refugees live made me feel very uneasy."
The students divided into small groups led by Professor Dr. Kulke and Dr. Albaba and conducted individual and group interviews with various groups of people and stakeholders at the shared accommodation facility. These included refugees, city employees, full-time staff, the management of the shared accommodation facility, but also, above all, those who volunteer to help refugees and those who coordinate the voluntary activities. The aim was to examine the different facets of voluntary work in the shared accommodation facility.
Mareike Karges and her fellow student Burkhard Salzer, for example, examined the Baby Café, a special service offered by the city of Würzburg for pregnant women, parents, and single mothers and fathers with children in their first years of life. "We were a team of two students and took a closer look at the Baby Café," explains Salzer. "The aim was to find out what experiences both the Baby Café staff and the refugees who use this service have had." While Salzer interviewed two Baby Café employees, Karges contacted city officials about the service.
Challenges of organising volunteers: coordination, communication, and flexibility
In addition to minor practical issues, the students' impressions and analyses reveal one specific sticking point in particular: the organisation of volunteers. During the assessment, it became apparent that coordination between full-time and volunteer staff does not always run as smoothly as everyone involved would like. Professor Dr. Kulke gives an example: "Getting the keys was a problem. You had to report to the shared accommodation, where you would receive the key, and then go to the community centre where the activities took place."
On top of that, there is the coordination of services. What is the best way to let refugees know about what's on offer? How often and how reliably do these services happen? We don't know enough about each other, says Professor Dr. Kulke. As well as not publicising these services, there's also a lack of flexibility when it comes to time. "Volunteers also have interests and often work on a project-by-project basis." Professional social work is therefore needed to competently manage and coordinate volunteers.
The results of the project were presented to interested experts at a conference in Würzburg last November. Various speakers were in attendance, including Professor Dr. Jens Vogler from Fulda University of Applied Sciences, who provided a scientific perspective on the topic. The conference marked the conclusion of the project, but at the same time served as a springboard for further action and the start of new approaches.
After the project is before the project – a look into the future
At the end of the conference, a scheme for coordinating voluntary work was presented and discussed. "A lot is happening right now. We are in a period of upheaval," says Professor Dr. Kulke with satisfaction. The results of the project form the basis for proposals on how voluntary work management can be better organised in the future.
The project was not about presenting a concrete roadmap that could then be implemented. Rather, the important thing was to assess the current situation. "We heard from both volunteers and volunteer coordinators that the situation is not entirely straightforward. This primarily concerns the flow of information," summarises Professor Dr. Kulke. In his view, important measures that now need to be taken include clearly naming contact persons and responsibilities, agreeing on binding times, and clearly coordinating and publicising the services offered.
When asked how he rates the teaching research project, he replies: "Producing findings through our research and presenting them to the professional community was a very rewarding experience for the students and for me, as was the collaboration with the city of Würzburg." Professor Dr. Kulke has already carried out several teaching research projects in the master's programme in Social Work with local social work stakeholders and is looking forward to more. The close collaboration in research is also beneficial for the students. "I could well imagine continuing to research the topic of refugees and volunteering in similar projects for future master's seminars. With teaching research projects like these, we can show what we as a university are capable of and have a small impact on society."
