The research activities at the Chair focus on the lived reality of children, adolescents, and adults with intellectual and complex disabilities. The various existing research approaches and methodologies can be understood, from both methodological and epistemological perspectives, as a commitment to diversity of perspectives.

One focus is on hermeneutic approaches that examine fundamental theoretical questions. What anthropological assumptions underpin the promotion and support of people with intellectual and complex disabilities? What preconceptions underlie a pedagogical or didactic concept? For what reasons is a specific approach the subject of controversy? What structural conditions are constitutive for professional practice? Engaging with such questions remains of paramount relevance in research with and for people with intellectual and complex disabilities.

Empirical approaches constitute another focus of our research. Taking into account the principles of participatory research, we develop approaches that are as participation-oriented as possible and are primarily situated within a framework of transformation, in which we explore relevant questions regarding the lived reality of people with intellectual and complex disabilities in collaboration with partners and self-advocates from the field.