Farina Wagner

Farina Wagner serves as a Research Fellow at the German Institute for Adult Education (DIE) since 2025, focusing on subjectification processes in continuing education counseling. Previously, she held research and teaching positions at the University of Duisburg-Essen (2023-2025), Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (2019-2023), and the University of Potsdam (2014-2016), demonstrating sustained engagement in adult education research and practice across German academic institutions.

Her educational background includes a Diploma in Educational Science from the University of Duisburg-Essen (2006-2012), specializing in general adult education/educational counseling with minors in sociology and psychology. This foundation informs her interdisciplinary approach to adult learning contexts.

Wagner's research centers on:

• Basic education and literacy development, particularly in Protestant family education contexts
• Subjectification processes in continuing education counseling through narrative analysis
• Empirical investigations of socio-spatial barriers in educational participation
• Optimization critiques in counseling relationships

Her work consistently addresses marginalized learner populations and institutional implementation challenges, bridging theoretical frameworks with practical interventions in non-formal education settings.

Analysis of her 2021-2025 publications reveals a strategic shift toward Protestant basic education competencies (2025), participant recruitment challenges (2024), and problematization of optimization paradigms in counseling (2023). These studies employ mixed methodologies including systematic literature reviews, narrative counseling analysis, and socio-spatial frameworks, with increasing emphasis on practical guidance for literacy work and institutional capacity building.

Wagner actively shapes academic discourse through editorial roles: serving on the editorial board of Debate. Contributions to Adult Education since 2017 and contributing to a digital handbook on Protestant basic education since 2025. Her collaborative project work includes the EIBE literacy initiative (2021-2023) and the GrubA project on Protestant basic education (2023-2025), where she develops consulting frameworks and qualification concepts for frontline educators working with disadvantaged populations.