Fabian Kessl
Fabian Kessl is Professor for Theory and Practice of Social Work at the School of Social Work, University Duisburg-Essen (Germany). His basic interest is in the current transformation of welfare and quasi-welfare arrangements since the 1970s. In particular Professor Kessl is interested in the "New Forms of Governance", the Governmentality of Social Work, the Spatial Formation-Shifts of Social Policy, and Neo-Social Patterns of Life Conduct. This work has been developed through a number of German books and edited volumes. Recent published works include: De- and Reterritorialization of the Social (Special Issue for Social Work & Society, edited with John Clarke, 2008/forthcoming); European Handbook for Social Work (edited with Walter Lorenz, Hans-Uwe Otto, forthcoming 2009); and Territorialisierung des Sozialen (edited with Hans-Uwe Otto, 2007). Professor Kessl was Co-Director of three major international conferences in 2002, 2006 and 2008.
Professor Kessl is member of the Editorial Board of two leading German Journals in Social Work and Social Policy (Neue Praxis and Widersprche) and member of the Co-Ordinating Office of "Social Work & Society - Online-Journal for Social Work and Social Policy" (www.socwork.net). Since March of 2008, Professor Kessl has served as a member of the steering committee for the German Association for Educational Science (DGfE) Division of "Social Work".
Prior to coming to the University of Duisburg-Essen, Professor Kessl taught at the Centre for Social Service Studies, Bielefeld University. He received his Diploma in Educational and Political Science at the Heidelberg University, and his PhD at Bielefeld University. In 2007 he was invited as a Visiting Scholar by the College of Education at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.