GraL (Gelingensbedingungen rassismussensibler Lehrer:innenbildung) are: Prof. Dr. Saphira Shure, Dr.in Katharina Schitow, Jaël In 't Veld, Vanessa Ohm, Saadati Fashtomi Roya, Jocelyn Jasmin Dechêne, Irina Grünheid, Dr. Matthias Rangger

Head of the junior research group
Prof. Dr. Saphira Shure
Saphira Shure worked as an academic co-worker at Technical University Dortmund in the “General Didactics and School Pedagogy” department and at the Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg in the research group “Migration and Education” and the „Center of Migration Education and Cultural Studies (CMC)“. In Oldenburg, she compleated her PhD in 2019 in the field of “Teacher Education in the Migration Society.” From 2019 to 2023, she was a postdoctoral researcher at the Faculty of Educational Science at Bielefeld University. Saphira Shure is a professor of Educational Science, specializing in research on racism and difference theoretical research.

Project coordinator of the junior research group
Dr.in Katharina Schitow
Katharina Schitow completed her teacher training at the University of Osnabrück and earned a Master of Education (GHR) in English, social studies/Integrated Studies for Primary Education (“Sachunterricht”), and History. Since 2019, she has been working at the Faculty of Educational Science in Research Group 10, “Migration Education and Critical Race Theory,” at Bielefeld University. Her research focuses on migration pedagogy and Critical Race Theory, as well as education in the context of (new) migration. Her research methods are grounded in qualitative-empirical approaches that draw on ethnographic and practice-theoretical perspectives as well as feminist methodologies, such as institutional ethnography. In 2023, she earned her Ph.D. at Bielefeld University with a doctoral thesis titled “Institution – Knowledge – Migration. An Institutional Ethnography in Primary School” (Schitow, 2025).

Researcher in the junior research group
Jaël In 't Veld
Jaël In 't Veld studied cultural anthropology at the University of Amsterdam and Utrecht University. In her doctoral thesis, she examines the role of the (violent) enforcement of nation-state narratives, fascism, and war as consolidating forces in the maintenance of order and as defense mechanisms against movements that destabilize that order. In doing so, Jaël focuses on emotions in the context of teacher education and brings together, Critical Race Theory, psychosocial, and historical material perspectives on regressive and transformative movements.

Researcher in the junior research group
Vanessa Ohm
Vanessa Ohm first studied social work and then Educational Science with a focus on Migration Pedagogy and Civic Education at Bielefeld University and has been working in various roles in the Migration Pedagogy and Critical Race Theory working group at Bielefeld University since 2020. Her research focuses on racism critical (teacher) professional development, differential-theoretical perspectives on pedagogy, and affect Studies. Vanessa Ohm is writing her dissertation on interactive processes in university courses on migration within teacher education.

Researcher in the junior research group
Saadati Fashtomi Roya
Roya Saadati Fashtomi compleated a Master of Education in secondary school teaching in the subjects of Philosophy and English from University of Dortmund. Among other roles, she worked as a temporary lecturer at University of Dortmund and as a substitute teacher at two elementary schools in North Rhine-Westphalia, and has also worked in youth and family services. Her research focuses on the following areas: reflexive methodologies in qualitative-interpretative research; education and social inequality; Critical Race Theory in (teacher) professionalization and document analysis. In her doctoral project, Roya is interested in the relationship between the narrative content of (professional) biographical interviews with (prospective) teachers and the experience of professionalization in a society of migration.

Associate member of the junior research group
Jocelyn Jasmin Dechêne
Jocelyn Dechêne studied to become a high school teacher of Philosophy, Politics, and Economics in Gießen. After completing her studies, she directed a childcare facility for elementary school students, completed her teaching training at the “Studienseminar” Frankfurt am Main, and then worked as a high school teacher. In 2023, she worked as a lecturer for special tasks at Goethe University in the Institute for Secondary Education, and since 2023 as a researcher and lecturer in the “Migration Education and Racism Critical Perspectives” research group at Bielefeld University. Her main areas of interest include critical-race theory education, liberation pedagogy, and the political dimensions of education.

Associate member of the junior research group (January-September 2025, GraL researcher)
Irina Grünheid
Irina Grünheid studied Social Work and Social Pedagogy at the University of Applied Sciences in Braunschweig and subsequently earned a Master of Arts in International Migration and Intercultural Relations (IMIB) at the University of Osnabrück. From 2012 to 2021, she worked as an academic co-worker in research and teaching in the field of migration and education, as well as in other areas of teacher education, at the Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg. Since 2021, she has been working primarily in research as an academic co-worker in the “Migration Education and Racism Critical Perspectives” research group at Bielefeld University. Her work focuses on Racism Critical (school) research, as well as discourse and representation theories related to the production of knowledge. Irina Grünheid is working on her a doctoral thesis titled “Representations and Practices of Appropriation of textbook Knowledge. A Racism Critical Analysis of German Language Instruction in Elementary School.”

Associate member of the junior research group (June-December 2024, Project lead of GraL)
Dr. Matthias Rangger
Matthias Rangger studied education at the Leopold Franzens University in Innsbruck. From 2014 to 2019, he worked as an academic co-worker in research and teaching in the field of migration and education at Carl von Ossietzky University in Oldenburg. Since October 2019, he has been working as an academic co-worker in Research Group 10: “Migration Education and Racism Critical Perspectives” at Bielefeld University. In 2023, he earned his Ph.D from Bielefeld University with his dissertation on “Contingency and Education. Reflextions on Migration Education Regarding a Political Concept of Education” (Rangger, 2024). From June to December 2024, he served as acting chair of the Chair of Education Science with a focus on racism and difference studies and as director of the GraL Junior Research Group.