Joana Franziska Debelt

Joana is a PhD researcher at the institute of special education at Stockholms University. Her research interest is the human body, body language and touch, which means that she analyzes movement and interaction and understands what we express with our body as a form of communication we should listen to and understand as just as important as spoken language. The aim of her PhD is to research how the body can be a source of knowledge and resource in everyday life in interactions between people with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities (PIMD) and their care workers. The study employs an ethnographic approach comparing interaction situations between people with PIMD and care staff in group homes and special day service centers in Sweden and Germany. Joana is also interested in the interplay between national policies and individual situations in practice.

With her research, Joana wants to contribute to the development of Special Education on an international scale and she is particularly interested in examining differences and common trends, as well as identifying the effects of change for people with PIMD and care workers in different countries.