Project Team

The research is managed by the following people:

Prof. Dr. Friedrich Schweitzer

Department of Protestant Theology at Tübingen University

Prof. Dr. Thomas Schlag

Practical Theology at Zürich University

With the focus of Religious Education, Church Theory

and Pastoral Theology

Kati Niemelä, ThD, MEd

Professor in Church and Social Studies (until 3/2017)

Senior Lecturer in Church and Social Studies (on leave until 3/2017)

Practical Theology, Faculty of Theology

University of Helsinki

Prof. Dr. Henrik Simojoki, Pfarrer (pastor)

University of Bamberg/Germany

e-mail to Henrik Simojoki

Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Ilg, Pfarrer, Dipl.-Psych. (pastor, psychologist)

Project Manager

e-mail to Wolfgang Ilg

Christoph H. Maaß, Dr. rer. pol.

Research fellow at Tübingen University

Project Manager

Phone: +49 (0)7071-29-72878

e-mail to Christoph Maaß

Georg Hardecker, Dipl.-Theol.
Research fellow at Tübingen University
Project Manager
Phone: +49 (0)7071-29-72878

e-mail to Georg Hardecker

Meeting of the European researchers together with the US confirmation research team, in June 2014 in
Helsinki/Finland.

Researchers from all nine participating countries work together in the international team.

Meeting of 23 researchers from 9 European countries in Vienna/Austria (20-21 February 2014)

The startoff of the second study: a meeting in Warsaw/Poland (8-10 December 2011)

From left to right: Thomas Schlag (Switzerland), Tobias Beisswenger (Germany: United Methodist Church),
Bernd Krupka (Norway), Ida Marie Hoeg (Norway), Jonas Bromander (Sweden), Wolfgang Ilg (Germany),
Rahel Voirol-Sturzenegger (Switzerland), Jouko Porkka (Finland), Elisabeta Byrtek (Poland),
Per Pettersson (Sweden), Leise Christensen (Denmark), Friedrich Schweitzer (Germany),
Dagmar Lagger (Austria), Kati Niemelä (Finland), Tapani Innanen (Finland), Balázs Siba (Hungary)

An earlier picture shows the team starting the first international survey in July 200 in Tübingen/Germany: