Students from the two workshops "Biography Work" with Prof. Dr Karin Borck and Michael Pifke and "Counselling for Victims of Right-Wing Extremist, Racist and Anti-Semitic Violence" with Prof. Dr Friederike Lorenz-Sinai visited our partner university, the School of Social Sciences at the University of Westminster in London, in June.

Right at the beginning, we listened to an exciting presentation by Dr Andreas Aresti about his project and the research perspective of Convict Criminology. This is about participatory prison education and research in which students and teachers learn and teach together with prisoners. Prisoners can also obtain a university degree within this framework. The aim is to include the perspectives of currently or formerly imprisoned people in criminology and prison research as active participants and co-designers of the academic course. The aim is to overcome structural barriers and facilitate opportunities for education.

The PhD students from the university went on to present their various projects and research work. The initial focus was on researching different approaches to prison university programmes in Europe in order to create educational opportunities in prisons. Following on from this, there were valuable insider perspectives from participants in these programmes. We also gained an insight into research work on self-administration of psychoactive plants in indigenous communities in Mexico and a project on bodywork for survivors of childhood sexual abuse. Another paper focussed on the experiences of women from minority groups before and during imprisonment in Austrian prisons. We then listened to further presentations that dealt specifically with the imprisonment of women and the associated structural problems.

Dr Wendy Fitzgibbon, a researcher from the University of Westminster, presented the "Photo Voice" method, which has already been part of several of her research projects in criminology. This method involves participants using cameras to photographically document the reality of their lives in order to initiate social dialogue, strengthen empowerment and make themselves heard by decision-makers.

We also got involved and presented our workshops and brought along practical examples and methods. This enabled us to engage in dialogue with the students and share our work and mini-research aka social reports.

At the end, our hosts invited us to the park for a cool drink, where we were able to relax and round off the day.

It was a long day with lots of exciting input and a wide variety of topics, which we continued to process and discuss for several days.

With regard to our workshops, we also realised in our reflections what an important role the individual life situations and biographies of the people in prison play for the work in prison and in criminology. Andy and his students showed us how research can not only be analytical, but also socially effective, for example by critically examining existing structures and developing new concepts for resocialisation.

The excursion offered the second-year students a wonderful opportunity to get to know a foreign university and its focus for a possible semester abroad. In addition, we were able to gain perspectives and food for thought beyond the confines of our university so that we can use them for further discourse if necessary.

A report by Pia Enterlein.