Thomas Ley

Prof. Dr. Thomas Ley is a Professor of Social Work at Osnabrück University of Applied Sciences, specializing in mediatised living environments and work forms. He holds a PhD in Education from the University of Bielefeld (awarded with distinction) and has extensive experience in social work research and policy. His academic roles include membership in the Ethics Commission of the German Association for Social Work and the Fachbeirat 'Digitale Kompetenzen in der Kinder- und Jugendhilfe'.

Education: Diploma in Social Pedagogy (2003, Katholische Fachhochschule Mainz), PhD in Education (2016, University of Bielefeld).

Research focuses on digitalization in social work, documentation systems, youth policy, and capability-oriented approaches. He has led projects like the CareTech OWL research consortium and contributed to EU-funded initiatives such as SocIEtY and WorkAble. His publications include books like Handbuch Soziale Arbeit und Digitalisierung and Zur Informatisierung Sozialer Arbeit.

Awards: Dissertation award for Zur Informatisierung Sozialer Arbeit.

Grants include roles as scientific director of the CareTech OWL Center (2022–2023) and program manager for the Lebenswerte Kommune initiative (2019–2022).

Labs/Teams: Involved in Kompetenzzentrum Soziale Dienste (kom.sd) and current research collaborations with the German Society for Social Work.