Research Institute for Interdisciplinary Ethnography on Violence, Gender, Sexuality and Justice
Research Institute for Interdisciplinary Ethnography
The Research Institute for Interdisciplinary Ethnography on Violence, Gender, Sexuality and Justice at Webster Vienna Private University advances interdisciplinary research on some of the most pressing social challenges of our time. Through ethnographic, participatory and community-engaged approaches, the institute examines how violence, gender, sexuality and justice are experienced, negotiated and contested in everyday life, while exploring the broader social, political and historical structures that shape these experiences.
The institute is directed by Judith Albrecht, Ph.D., an internationally recognized social anthropologist and visual ethnographer whose research spans more than 25 years across Africa, Europe and the United States. Her expertise in gender, violence, trauma, displacement, justice and visual ethnography provides the foundation for the institute’s interdisciplinary research agenda.
Our Mission
The institute seeks to generate empirically grounded research that deepens understanding of violence, gender, sexuality and justice while contributing to academic scholarship, public dialogue and social change.
Recognizing gender as a critical analytical category, the institute explores how inequalities are produced, maintained and challenged across different social, cultural and political contexts. Its research investigates both lived experiences and the structural conditions that influence identity, belonging, migration, exclusion and justice.
Our Research Approach
Ethnography is at the heart of the institute’s work. Through long-term fieldwork, documentation and collaboration with communities, researchers examine lived, embodied and emotional experiences while connecting them to wider systems of power, governance, law and inequality.
The institute understands ethnography not simply as a method of observation, but as a critical approach to understanding how social realities are created, experienced and transformed. By combining qualitative, participatory and multimodal methods—including film, photography and digital media—the institute develops rich, community-centered perspectives on complex social issues.
Research Areas
The institute’s work focuses on topics including:
· Violence and trauma
· Gender and gender inequality
· Sexuality
· Justice and social inclusion
· Migration, displacement and belonging
· Identity and social transformation
· Visual and multimodal ethnography
· Community-engaged and participatory research
Leadership
The institute is led by Judith Albrecht, Ph.D., a German social anthropologist and visual ethnographer. She earned her doctorate in Social Anthropology from Freie Universität Berlin and has held research and teaching positions at Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt University Berlin and the University of Graz.
Her research has been conducted in Tanzania, Malawi, Iran, Libya, Germany and the United States, in close collaboration with refugee and diaspora communities. In addition to her academic expertise, Dr. Albrecht is trained as a trauma social worker, bringing methodological and ethical expertise to research involving survivors of violence. Her work in visual and multimodal ethnography expands the possibilities of qualitative research through film, photography and digital storytelling.
Advancing Research at Webster Vienna
The institute strengthens Webster Vienna Private University’s Society and Individuals Under Change research cluster while expanding the university’s international research profile. Through interdisciplinary collaboration and community-engaged scholarship, it contributes to contemporary debates on violence, gender, sexuality, justice and social change by producing research that connects individual experiences with broader societal processes.
Contact Email
Webster Vienna Private University
Research Institute for Interdisciplinary Ethnography
Address
Palais Wenkheim, Praterstrasse 23, 1020, Vienna Austria