Zentrum für Kindheits- und Jugendforschung (ZKJF)

Welcome to the Centre for Childhood and Youth Studies!

The Centre for Childhood and Youth Studies (ZKJF) is a self-organized working, discussion, and publication forum. The Centre for Childhood and Youth Studies (ZKJF) engages in long-term interdisciplinary and intradisciplinary exchange on theoretical and empirical questions of childhood and youth research within Bielefeld University and beyond. The Centre’s research focuses on the life situations, well-being, social practices, and coping mechanisms of children, adolescents, and young adults. It prioritizes cooperation and exchange with interested actors and institutions in the scientific, economic, governmental, and municipal sectors. To support international exchange with researchers from other European and non-European countries, the Centre organizes conferences and symposia on topics related to childhood and youth research. Another key area of focus of the Centre is supporting and nurturing young researchers in the field of childhood and youth research.

The ZKJF aims to promote and elevate interdisciplinary childhood and youth research within the social and educational sciences in Bielefeld. Building on a longstanding tradition of childhood and youth research at Bielefeld University, the ZKJF was formally established on September 1, 1990. It emerged from the Bielefeld Faculty of Education’s existing ‘Research Focus on Youth Research’, which had been in existence since 1985.