Sylvia Kesper-Biermann

Prof. Dr. Sylvia Kesper-Biermann is a Professor of Historical Educational Research at the University of Hamburg's Faculty of Education, specifically within the department of General, Intercultural and International Comparative Education and Educational Psychology (EW 1). She has held this position since 2017 and previously served in various academic roles at institutions such as Justus-Liebig University Giessen, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, and the University of Cologne. Her research focuses on historical education, transnational educational spaces, comics as educational media, post-colonial education, and the history of human rights and emotions.

Educationally, she studied Middle and Modern History, History Didactics, and Specialist Journalism at Universities of Siegen, Gießen, and Bristol. Her career includes roles as a research coordinator for the DFG Graduate School on Automatism, a research fellow at the University of Paderborn, and participation in multiple DFG-funded projects.

Her research interests are interdisciplinary, emphasizing the intersection of education, history, and media. Recent work explores comics' role in language education for guest workers in West Germany, transnational colonial schools, and emotional dimensions of legal cultures. She has published extensively, including monographs like Einheit und Recht and edited volumes on Turkish-German educational discourse.

Prof. Kesper-Biermann has received notable awards such as the Hamburger Lehrpreis 2023 and the Karl-Ferdinand-Werner Fellowship. She leads projects like PostKol (on post-colonial education) and ComBiMe (comics as educational media in West Germany). Her work bridges historical analysis with contemporary educational challenges, emphasizing visual literacy, migration studies, and transnational collaboration.

Her academic contributions include organizing lecture series on pedagogy, sexuality, and body politics, as well as international conferences on education history and comics studies. She collaborates with institutions like the Comic Kolloquium Nord and the German Society for Comics Studies, fostering interdisciplinary dialogue in visual and educational historiography.