Anne van Rießen

Anne van Rießen is a Professor at Hochschule Düsseldorf in the Faculty of Social Sciences and Cultural Studies, where she serves as Pro-Dean for Research, Transfer and Evaluation since March 2024. Her academic career spans multiple leadership roles including membership on the Faculty Council, the Examination Board, and the Board of the German Association for Social Work (DGSA). She co-leads the Research Center for Social-Spatial Practice and Development Research (FSPE) and maintains strong connections with policy-making bodies, having served on the Expert Commission for the Fourth Volunteer Report and as an advisor to the North Rhine-Westphalia State Parliament.

Professor van Rießen's research focuses on participation and democratization in social work, user-centered research perspectives, socially-spatial social work, and volunteer engagement. Her work consistently centers on understanding the experiences of marginalized populations, particularly regarding barriers to service access. She employs qualitative methodologies and participatory approaches that prioritize the voices of service users, examining both utilization and non-utilization of social services from the user perspective.

Her recent publications (2024-2025) demonstrate a strong focus on political participation of people experiencing poverty, barriers to service access, socially-spatial approaches to aging, and the impact of the pandemic on residential youth services. These works reveal a consistent commitment to understanding structural barriers while developing practical solutions grounded in user experiences. Her research spans multiple contexts including urban development, homelessness, youth services, and volunteer engagement.

Professor van Rießen actively supervises three doctoral students and maintains connections with numerous research networks and professional organizations. Her leadership extends beyond academia through roles with Housing First Düsseldorf and advisory positions related to poverty reduction and urban development. She regularly presents her findings at national conferences and contributes to policy discussions through media appearances and expert consultations.

Her research is supported by diverse funding sources including the North Rhine-Westphalia Ministry for Labor, Health and Social Affairs, the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth, and various foundations. Current projects address political participation of people experiencing poverty, citizen participation in urban development, volunteering against social exclusion, and open drug scenes in NRW.