University of Mannheim
Prof. Dr. Irena Kogan
Irena Kogan, PI of the PARFORM, is a full professor of comparative sociology at the University of Mannheim. Her research interests include ethnicity and migration, social stratification and transition from school-to-work. In addition to PARFORM, Irena Kogan is a co-PI of the German part of the “Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Survey in Four European Countries” (CILS4EU-DE) (DFG), which data will be used in the PARFORM-Project.
Irena Kogan is a Member of the European Academy of Sociology and a board member of the Transition in Youth Network. She is former associate editor of the European Sociological Review and the Secretary-Treasurer of the European Consortium for Social Research.
Dr. Stefanie Heyne
Dr. Stefanie Heyne is a postdoctoral research associate in the PARFORM Project. Her research interests include gender inequalities in the family and the labor market, migration, and quantitative methods. Within the project, she focuses on partnership preferences of refugees and the established German population.
Stefanie received her doctorate from the University of Mannheim with a thesis on “Culture and female labor force participation in international comparison”. Before joining PARFORM she worked in the project “Young Women’s Labour Market Chances in Muslim Middle Eastern and Northern African Countries” (MZES) as well as a teaching associate at the University of Bamberg and at the LMU Munich.
Jana Kuhlemann
Jana is a PhD student in Sociology at the Center for Doctoral Studies in Social and Behavioral Sciences (CDSS) of the Graduate School of Economic and Social Sciences (GESS, University of Mannheim). She obtained her B.A. and M.A. in Sociology at the University of Mannheim. Her research interests include the fields of social inequality, migration and family sociology. Starting in September 2021, she is working as a researcher in the PARFORM project hosted by the Mannheim Centre for European Social Research (MZES).
Carlos Palomo Lario
Carlos Palomo is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Mannheim/MZES working on the PARFORM project since May 2024. He oversees the formatting of the PARFORM survey questionnaires and their longitudinal analysis.
Carlos earned his PhD in Political and Social Sciences from Pompeu Fabra University in December 2023. His thesis examined the differences between native- and immigrant-origin students in educational expectations and pathways in transitions between stages of the education system. Before joining PARFORM he worked in a research project on the criminal and prison trajectories of aggressors of intimate partner violence.
Marlene Bauer
Marlene is a researcher at the University of Mannheim/Mannheim Center for European Social Research (MZES). She joined the PARFORM project in february 2025. Prior to that, she completed her Bachelor’s and Master’s in Sociology at the University of Mannheim. Her research interests include family sociology and gender inequality.
Kateryna Sytkina
Kateryna Sytkina is a PhD student in Sociology at the University of Cologne (CGS) and has joined PARFORM project at the University of Mannheim in January 2025. Within the project, she focuses on ego-centric female networks of Syrian and Afghan refugees.
Kateryna received her bachelor’s degree in Sociology from the University of “Kyiv-Mohyla Academy” in Kyiv, Ukraine. She completed her master’s degree in Sociology and Social Research at the University of Cologne. Since 2022, she is pursuing a PhD in Cologne with a focus on life-events (parental death, parental separation, war) and outcomes for well-being and family networks. Beyond that, her research interests lie in the area of immigration, with the current focus on Ukrainian, Syrian and Afghan refugees.
Claudia Lemmer
Claudia is a student assistant supporting the team with contacting survey participants. Additionally, she is assisting with the preparation of publications and deliverables. Currently, Claudia is doing her Bachelor’s in Sociology at the University of Mannheim.
Lotte Frey
Lotte is a student assistant supporting the team with contacting survey participants and conducting literature review. Moreover, she is responsible for preprocessing of data and assists with the preparation of publications and deliverables. Currently, Lotte is doing her Bachelor’s in Sociology at the University of Mannheim.
Mujibullah Kamyar
Mujibullah is responsible for translating and cross-checking foreign language texts, ensuring linguistic accuracy. He also selects the most appropriate survey questions tailored to the interests of young adult migrants, aligning with the research’s main goals. In the final stage, Mujibullah helps to review the research results or brochure, ensuring clarity and relevance for the target audience.
Yassmin Amer
Yassmin is a student assistant in the PARFORM project. She is responsible for translating and reviewing questionnaires, cross-checking foreign language texts, assisting and contributing to team-based project tasks. Yassmin is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Sociology at the University of Mannheim.
Cornelius Behr
Cornelius Behr is a student assistant who is responsible for processing the PARFORM-data for further analysis and for carrying out the analyses. He is also contributing to the harmonization of the waves. Currently, Cornelius is doing his Master’s in Sociology at the University of Mannheim.
Former Team Members
Laura Schmitt
Laura was a student assistant responsible for processing the collected data for further analysis and conducting literature review while finishing her Bachelor’s in Sociology at the University of Mannheim.
Paul Burlon
Paul was a student assistant responsible for processing the collected data for further analysis. Paul was also assisting with the programming and testing of survey questions. Paul was doing his Bachelor’s in Sociology at the University of Mannheim.
Amir Bonyadi
Amir was a student assistant responsible for translating the questionnaire from German to Dari and testing the questionnaire. Amir also helped with various data collection tasks and will be assisting with managing the project databases.
Muhammad Muhammad
Muhammad was a student assistant responsible for translating and reviewing the questionnaire for the quantitative survey of the first and second wave. He also did research on different subjects related to the project and helped administer the project’s databases.
Dr. Chadi Abdul-Rida
Chadi was a postdoctoral researcher in the PARFORM project. His prior research was at the intersection of family and migration sociology. He wrote his PhD thesis at the University of Chemnitz (Germany) about the role of the family in the partner choice of immigrants and their children. He is also interested in several other research fields related to migration sociology, i.e. ethnic identification, perceived discrimination and immigrants’ well-being.
In PARFORM, Chadi conducted the in-depth interviews with the Syrian interviewees and with the gained information he helped to further develop the questionnaire for the quantitative interviews. Due to his skills in web development, he was also responsible for implementing the online survey for the second and third waves.
Grace Caroline Olzinski
Grace was a Master student in Sociology at the University of Mannheim. Grace has practical experience in assisting refugees and young immigrants with their integration into the German labor market and education system. As a native English speaker and a fluent German speaker, Grace assisted in editing and translating various documents (reports, manuscripts, website texts etc.).
Omar Alsawadi
Omar was a student assistant in the PARFORM project. He was responsible for the transcription and translation of the Arabic in-depth audio interviews into German text. He also helped to test the questionnaire for the quantitative survey and check its translation from German to Arabic.
Michelle Maier
Michelle was a student assistant in the PARFORM project. One of her tasks was to help review the questionnaire for the quantitative survey. She also did literature research on different subjects related to the project such as the measurement of physical attractiveness of the interview participants.
Fatemeh Salimi Khaligh
Fatemeh was a Master student in Sociology at the University of Bamberg, specialising in Migration and Integration Studies. She has many years of practical experience in working with refugees (especially with unaccompanied minors). Fatemeh’s task in the PARFORM project was to review the Dari translation of the quantitative survey questionnaire. Furthermore, she tested the final questionnaire by conducting interviews with Afghan refugee men whose mother tongue is Dari.
Mohammed Sohrab Osmani
Mohammed studied Mechanical Engineering at the University of Kaiserslautern. Mohammed’s task in the PARFORM project was to review the Pashto translation of the quantitative survey questionnaire. Furthermore, he tested the final questionnaire by conducting interviews with Afghan refugee men whose mother tongue is Pashto.
Cooperation Partner
Infas
Infas Institute for Applied Social Sciences
