Yağmur Mengilli

Yağmur Mengilli serves as a Margarete von Wrangell Junior Professor at the University of Tübingen since July 2025 and previously held a Junior Professorship for Social Pedagogy (Tenure Track) at the Institute of Educational Science at the University of Tübingen starting in June 2024. She is affiliated with the Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences within the Department of Social Sciences, Educational Science. Prior to her current position, she held an Acting Professorship (W2) at the Institute for Social Pedagogy at the University of Hamburg (2023-2024) and worked as a Scientific Associate at the Institute for Social Pedagogy and Adult Education at Goethe University Frankfurt am Main (2015-2024).

Mengilli earned her doctorate (Dr. phil.) in 2022 from the Department of Educational Sciences at Goethe University Frankfurt am Main with her dissertation titled "Chilling as a youth cultural practice." She completed her undergraduate studies in Educational Sciences at Goethe University Frankfurt am Main between 2009 and 2015. Her academic journey is complemented by extensive practical experience, having worked in open children and youth work as an educational specialist and public relations professional at the Evangelical Association for Youth Social Work in Frankfurt am Main from 2011 to 2023.

Mengilli's research centers on youth cultural practices, particularly examining "chilling" as a significant social phenomenon that intersects with spatial appropriation, time management, and social positioning. She investigates how young people navigate social inequalities and create community through everyday practices in both physical and digital spaces. Her work bridges educational science, sociology, and cultural studies with strong practical connections to open youth work. She examines youth participation in the European context, learning processes through youth cultural practices, and inequality/injustice research, with particular attention to gender dynamics and transnational mobility.

Her publications reveal a consistent focus on how youth cultural practices function as modes of time work, spatial appropriation, and political expression. Mengilli's work demonstrates how seemingly mundane activities like "chilling" serve as important sites for identity formation, community building, and resistance against normative expectations. Her research spans both theoretical explorations and practical applications for youth work professionals, with strong emphasis on the life-world relevance of youth practices rather than institutional requirements.

Mengilli actively contributes to the academic community as a peer reviewer for the European Journal of Social Work, Society – Individual – Socialization, Journal of Socialization Research (GISo), Discourse on Childhood and Youth Research, and the Federal Health Gazette (RKI). She serves on the Project Advisory Board for the "Workplace-Related Positioning Processes" project and the MUT Project Advisory Board for Democracy Education in Youth Work. She is also a member of the Tübingen Forum on Social Resonances of Societal Crisis Experiences (TüFoRK) and the extended steering committee of the cooperative network for open children and youth work.

Her research projects include the current University of Tübingen-funded project "Lernen in und durch jugendkulturelle Praxis - Mapping der lebensweltlichen Kontexte junger Menschen" (Learning in and through youth cultural practices - Mapping the life-world contexts of young people). She previously completed the "PeerPartiCo - Peerbeziehungen und Partizipation im Wandel anlässlich der Covid-19-Pandemie" project (2021-2023) and the "PARTISPACE: Orte und Stile von Partizipation. Formale, non-formale und informelle Möglichkeiten der Partizipation junger Menschen" project (2015-2018).

Mengilli maintains strong connections between academic research and practical youth work contexts. She regularly presents her findings at conferences and workshops for practitioners, including numerous presentations on "Chillen" (chilling) as a youth cultural practice for youth workers, educators, and policymakers. Her work emphasizes the importance of understanding youth practices on their own terms rather than through adult-centric frameworks.