The Annual Report
The Annual Report furnishes insights into the Institute's activities and significant developments over the preceding year.
Institute
The Institute's provides research findings, knowledge transfer and research infrastructure to enhance the quality of continuing education and to improve adult learning.
Research for education – innovative concepts for practice
Our research is practically oriented while being firmly grounded in scientific evidence. Our findings are adapted to suit specific target groups with a view to strengthening knowledge transfer and contributing to developing practice and policy.
How we work
The DIE
- is engaged in the conduct of applied and basic research,
- is involved in developing concepts for practical application,
- promotes knowledge transfer,
- provides research infrastructures and
- advises political and institutional stakeholders at the national and international level.
The Institute's services contribute to professionalising the continuing education system and enhancing practitioners' competencies.
The Institute's work is divided into two areas:
- The Research Division comprises the departments 'System and Policy', 'Organisation and Programme Planning' and 'Teaching and Learning'.
- The Infrastructure Division comprises the 'Knowledge Transfer' and 'Research Infrastructures' departments.
There is close collaboration between all departments. The Institute's research combines a problem-oriented approach and practical relevance with academic rigour. The Infrastructure Report supports interdisciplinary research into lifelong learning by making research data (e.g. on adult education centre statistics and the Digital Programme Archive) available for reuse by the adult education community. The Institute facilitates knowledge transfer through publications and online portals that help to bridge the gap between academia and practice in adult education.
Within the Leibniz Association
The DIE is part of the Leibniz Association, which has a shared mission: Science for the benefit and well-being of humankind – theoria cum praxi. The quality of our work is regularly assessed as part of the Leibniz evaluation process.
The DIE has established extensive networks with other Leibniz Institutes, including the Leibniz Research Network 'Educational Potentials' (LERN), the 'Open Science' Strategy Forum and working groups addressing subjects such as Europe, internationalisation and knowledge transfer. The objective is to utilise interdisciplinary collaboration to shape evidence-based education across the entire lifespan and to develop open research.
LERN has been recognised as a pivotal liaison in education policy and administration. The organisation is responsible for facilitating an annual forum dedicated to discussing contemporary issues in the education sector. The researchers investigate how the potential of education and for education can be better harnessed and aim to identify starting points for sustainable concepts and promising reforms at individual, institutional and societal levels.
The Strategy Forum provides support to the Leibniz Association in the strategic development of open research. The objective is to integrate Open Science as a component of sound scientific practice and to cultivate a culture of transparency in the context of digital transformation.
In my opinion, the purpose and hallmark of true science lie in the useful inventions that can be derived from it.
National partnerships
Academic excellence relies on exchange, cooperation and competition on a global scale. This is why the DIE establishes and strengthens partnerships with universities, Leibniz institutes, research and infrastructure consortia and associations representing continuing education practice.
We believe that the most successful research is carried out in collaboration with partners. In our research projects, we therefore work together with numerous institutions in an interdisciplinary manner and across different fields of education.
We are continuously and strategically expanding our academic collaborations. We have close personal and academic links with the universities of Tübingen, Cologne, Bonn and Duisburg-Essen. Our collaboration with the FernUniversität in Hagen includes two joint professorships held by DIE department heads Prof. Dr. Hannes Schröter and Prof. Dr. Andreas Martin. We also collaborate with numerous other universities and higher education institutions throughout Germany.
International perspective
The DIE aims to expand the internationalisation of research, knowledge transfer and research infrastructures. The Institute is involved in strategic alliances and networks across Europe, as well as with partners in Canada, for example, and in international research networks such as the European Association for the Education of Adults (EAEA), the Asia-Europe Meeting Lifelong Learning Hub (ASEM LLL Hub), the European Association for Research on Learning and Instruction (EARLI) and the World Education Research Association (WERA).
Since 2019, Bonn has been the headquarters of the European Society for Research on the Education of Adults (ESREA), a European research society dedicated to promoting and disseminating empirical and historical research in adult and continuing education. Susanne Lattke (DIE) is the current Executive Director.
Cooperation agreements with partners in Europe and beyond raise the DIE’s international profile, promote research output and establish a solid foundation for joint publications and project proposals.
The internationalisation strategy involves a process of continuous refinement, with the overarching objectives being to elevate the prominence of research findings, data infrastructures and concepts among an international specialist audience and to actively contribute to shaping global developments in education.
Cooperation agreements provide opportunities for students, early-career researchers and experienced female researchers to work at the Institute as guests. Further information is available upon request.
