Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin - Department of Rehabilitation Sciences

Prof. Dr Thomas Hoffmann, born in Hamburg in 1971, is an educational scientist and sociologist. He is Head of Department of the Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, Director of the Centre for Inclusion Research Berlin (ZfIB), and teaches General Theory of Special Education and and Pedagogy for Learners with Learning Disabilities at Humboldt University of Berlin. In his work, he combines basic research in educational theory with historical and empirical perspectives on inclusion and exclusion in the education system. His research focuses on the general theory of education for people with disabilities, critical exclusion research, disability history, educational diagnostics and development-oriented didactics.

After studying at the University of Hamburg and the Free University of Berlin, Thomas Hoffmann worked from 1998 to 2002 as an educator in instiutions for people with disabilities, as a case worker for adults with mental health conditions, and as a teacher in adult education. From 2001 to 2007, he was a research assistant at the Ludwigsburg University of Education and the University of Cologne. From 2007 to 2018, he was an assistant professor at the Ludwigsburg University of Education and obtained his his doctorate in Educational Science in 2011. 2015-2016: Visiting Professor of Pedagogy for Severe Intellectual and Multiple Disabilities and Inclusive Education at the Heidelberg University of Education; 2016–2017: Visiting Professor of Rehabilitation Sociology, Vocational Rehabilitation and Rehabilitation Law at Humboldt University of Berlin; 2018–2024: Professor of Inclusive Education at the University of Innsbruck. Since 2024, Thomas Hoffmann has been a professor at the Institute of Rehabilitation Sciences at Humboldt University of Berlin.