New member of the Caledonian Academy Team

Clemens Wieser will join the Caledonian Academy team on August 3, 2009. Clemens will conduct a PhD study on the role of social networks in enhancing students’ transition from education to the workplace.

Clemens obtained his Magister rer. nat. degree (equivalent to MSc) in Geography (major) and Philosophy, Pedagogy and Psychology (minors) at the University of Vienna in 2008. He passed his Master’s thesis titled “Student-centred teaching and its transfer problems into reallife geography teaching” with highest distinction and completed his Graduating Exam „mit Auszeichnung bestanden“ (equivalent to starred first degree).

Clemens’s research interests are in the intersection of imparting and acquisition of information. He has experience in qualitative research in teaching and didactics (Grounded Theory; hermeneutical text and data analysis) and evaluation of school pilot projects. His recent research projects included: Evaluation of a modular course system in a Viennese upper secondary school (AHS Rahlgasse, 2007); study on the impact of self-regulated and collective learning in geography school courses following Kilpatrick´s project method (2007); application of concepts of life world and everyday life in social science teaching (2008); reconstruction of teachers perceptions and strategies in „student-oriented teaching“ (2008). His further interests include Critical Theory and Frankfurt school of thought; Philosophy of education.

We warmly welcome Clemens to the Caledonian Academy and look forward to the fruitful collaboration ahead.

This 3-year study is funded by the Caledonian Academy and will be co-supervised by Dr. Isobel Falconer and Dr. Anoush Margaryan, with Prof. Allison Littlejohn as a member of the supervisory team.