Prof. Dr. Thomas Weil

Since the beginning of 2015, Prof. Dr Thomas Weil has been involved in the preparation and accreditation of the innovative part-time Master's degree programme ‘Health and Social Management M.A.’ at the SRH University of Applied Sciences for Health at the Gera campus. On 1 January 2016, he took over the management of this Master's degree programme as full-time Professor of Health and Social Management.

Prof. Dr Thomas Weil, born in Giessen (Hesse) in 1962, initially studied at the Kassel University of Applied Sciences on the integrative ‘Social Work and Social Education’ degree programme (degree: ‘very good’ with a grade of 1.0). During his studies, he successfully completed further training in non-directive conversation management/client-centred counselling according to Carl R. Rogers.

This was followed by several years of professional practice as an individual and group therapist in a therapeutic residential community for drug addicts in northern Hesse. In 1989, he spent several months in the United States of America and took part in various studies on the drug situation in major American cities (San Francisco/ New York).

As part of a federal model programme, he became coordinator for addiction prevention and health promotion in a rural district in North Hesse in 1990.

While working, he completed a postgraduate degree in social sciences at the University of Kassel in ‘Social Therapy’ (degree: ‘very good’ with a grade of 1.0). This was followed in June 1997 by a doctorate in philosophy (Dr phil.) at the University of Kassel on the subject of ‘Health promotion as a community task with special consideration of current developments in the practice of addiction prevention’ (degree: ‘magna cum laude’).

Further professional stations included the management and administration of the state offices against the dangers of addiction in Saxony-Anhalt and then in the Hanseatic City of Hamburg, before Prof. Dr Thomas Weil was appointed Professor of Social Services at the newly founded University of Cooperative Education in Thuringia at the end of 1998 and set up the Department of Social Services in Gera. He worked as head of both the ‘Social Services’ and ‘Rehabilitation’ degree programmes for over fifteen years before being appointed Professor of ‘Social Work Science’ at the Faculty of Social Sciences at Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences.

E-mail: [email protected]

Main areas of research:

Theoretical, methodological and didactic dimensions of social work science

Perspectives on welfare production and social services

Understanding democracy and participation of children and young people

Resource analyses of right-wing extremism

Implementation of ‘early help’

Memberships

German Society for Social Work (DGSA)