Prof. Dr. Andrea Abraham
Profile

Prof. Dr. Andrea Abraham Dozentin
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Contact hours
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday morning -
Address
Berner Fachhochschule
School of Social Work
Abteilung Soziale Intervention
Hallerstrasse 10
3012 Bern
Activities
Responsibilities
Professor at Institute for Childhood, Youth and Family
Deputy head of Institute for Childhood, Youth and Family
Focus areas
Child and family well-being
Biographical and transgenerational impact of foster care and residential care
Experiences of violence in the immediate social environment
Domestic and international adoption
Burdened and marginalised forms of parenthood
Qualitative social research, ethnographic research, art-based research
Teaching
Degree programmes
BSc of Social Work
Subjects
Socialisation
Foster care
Violence
Scientific working techniques / qualitative research methods
Research
Specialisations
Child and family welfare
Qualitative research methods
Focus areas
Child and family well-being
Biographical and transgenerational impact of foster care and residential care
Experiences of violence in the immediate social environment
Domestic and international adoption
Burdened and marginalised forms of parenthood
Qualitative social research, ethnographic research, art-based research
CV
Professional experience
- 2022- Deputy Head of Institute for Childhood, Youth and Family Bern University of Applied Sciences, School of Social Work
- 2019- Professor Bern University of Applied Sciences, School of Social Work
- 2017-2019 Research Coordinator and Head of Quality Management Bern University of Applied Sciences, School of Social Work
- 2016-2024 Lecturer Basel-Stadt Health Education Centre
- 2012-2017 Head of Resarch Dialog Ethik – Interdisciplinary Institute for Ethics in Healthcare
- 2010-2014 Lecturer Bern Health Education Centre
- 2008-2012 PhD student Bern University, Institute of Social Anthropology
- 2005-2008 Researcher Bern University, Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine
- 2005-2006 Teacher College Köniz-Lerbermatt
Education
- 2019-2021 Certificate in University Teaching Bern University of Applied Sciences
- 2019-2020 CAS Child Protection Bern University of Applied Sciences
- 2018 CAS EFQM Model Integration & Assessment Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts
- 2008-2012 PhD in Social Anthropology Bern University, Institute of Social Anthropology
- 1999-2005 BSc and MSc in Social Anthropology Bern University, Institute of Social Anthropology
Other
- Sabbatical focusing on art-based research (stays in India, Croatia and Switzerland) (August–December 2025)
- Visiting scholar at TATA Institute of Social Sciences, School of Social Work, Mumbai/India (January-April 2023)
- Co-director of the doctoral colloquium at Bern University School of Social Work (2017–2024)
- Reviewer for Sociologus, socialnet, GISo, Swiss Journal of Social Work
- Associate researcher at the Institute of Social Anthropology at the University of Bern
- Board member Social Projects Association Bern
- Participation in the ATD Fourth World project ‘Poverty – Identity – Society’ (2020–2023)
- Co-head of training, Multireligious Support Association
- Volunteering in the Jewish community of Bern
- Scientific Advisor, Dialog Ethik – Interdisciplinary Institute for Ethics in Healthcare (2017–2024)
- President Medical Anthropology Switzerland MAS (2010-2014)
Projects
Other projects
Von Generation zu Generation: Familiennarrative im Kontext von Fürsorge und Zwang (2019-2022)
Konzept Begleitetes Lehrlingswohnen Lonza (Visp) (2020-2021)
Wissenschaftliche Begleitung der Qualitätsentwicklung des Ärztenetzwerks xundart (2019-2021)
Entscheidungsfindung und ethische Güterabwägung bei einer Transkatheter- Aortenklappen-Implantation (TAVI) – eine qualitative Studie zur Perspektive von Patientinnen und Patienten mit einer schweren Aortenklappenstenose (2015-2016)
"Doing quality": Diskursive Konstruktionen medizinischer Qualität am Beispiel der Schweizer Hausarztmedizin (2008-2012)
Publications
Memberships
External memberships
Expert at "Savoir public"
Member of the board of the Social Projects Association
Interest group for quality in child protection
Internationale Gesellschaft für erzieherische Hilfen IGfH
International Foster Care Research Network
Networker at national initiative La Purla
Multireligious Support Association
Swiss Association of Social Anthropology
Swiss Association of the Science of Religion
Supervised theses
Bachelor
Alena Lang, Aimée Mandjila Flucht, Trauma und Transgenerationalität: Förderung psychischer Gesundheit von Kindern und Jugendlichen in der stationären Erziehungshilfe 2024
Svenja Imseng Benzodiazepine und Sucht 2024
Julia Ceyran Auswirkungen einer Adoption auf die Identitätsentwicklung in der ersten und zweiten Generation 2023
Michelle Fischer, Joy Schnyder Gewalt. Ein Männerproblem? 2022
Tobias Schalk Kindheit mit von fürsorgerischen Zwangsmassnahmen direktbetroffenen Eltern. Eine rekonstruktive Analyse mittels Grounded Theory bezüglich des Phänomens der Rollenumkehr 2021
Other
Karandana Lekamlage Surangika Subhashini Jayarathne The Emotional Geography of Transnational Adoption: Sri Lankan First Mothers and Adoptees in Switzerland 2025
Nadine Gautschi Transgenerationalität am Beispiel des Schweigens und Sprechens im Kontext fürsorgerischer Zwangsmassnahmen in der Schweiz: Eine qualitative Studie mit Nachkommen Betroffener 2024
Language skills and intercultural knowledge
Language skills
- German - Native or bilingual proficiency
- English - Professional working proficiency
- French - Limited working proficiency
Intercultural knowledge
- Switzerland
- India