The city of Senftenberg awards Dr. Saskia Fischer for her dissertation

Around 150 guests accepted the invitation of Peter Rössiger, chairman of the city council, and Andreas Pfeiffer, mayor of the city of Senftenberg, to the mensa on the Senftenberg BTU campus on March 24, 2023. Right at the beginning of the spring reception, the Vicepresident for Academic Affairs at BTU Cottbus-Senftenberg Prof. Dr. Peer Schmidt pointed out the current positive developments at the campus in his welcoming speech and declared: "The location will grow again. We will have more students here again."
In his keynote address, the mayor of Senftenberg, Andreas Pfeiffer, reaffirmed the city's commitment to the BTU, which was also expressed in the choice of venue for the reception. He particularly emphasized the strengthening of the science location and the cooperation with the university. Among other things, he praised the research achievements in biotechnology and the Institute of Health, and called the establishment of the new course of study in primary education an excellent and trend-setting step.

A highlight of the reception, which was musically framed by the new stage Senftenberg, was the awarding of prizes in the categories innovation, honorary office, family friendliness and research.

Dr. Saskia Fischer from the Department of Educational Psychology in Health Professions  at the BTU received the award for research for her dissertation on the topic: "Self-efficacy expectation, self-regulation and empathy as facets of the intervention competence of teachers in bullying - connections to the intervention action of teachers and the bullying experiences of learners".

Prof. Dr. Ludwig Bilz, Head of the Department of Educational Psychology in Health Professions, held the laudation for Dr. Saskia Fischer's award. Among other things, he addressed the great responsibility of teachers for students affected by bullying: "What distinguishes teachers who consistently intervene in such situations and successfully prevent bullying from those who do not succeed? Saskia Fischer investigated and answered this question in her dissertation. She analyzed data from over 2,000 students and 550 teachers. She has published her findings in a number of high-profile publications, presented them at international congresses in Dublin, Vienna and Stockholm, and - most importantly - they have found their way into practice: through teacher training courses here in Brandenburg and guidelines for teachers." Prof. Bilz went on to emphasize, "With her excellent dissertation, which was written as part of a DFG project, she shows that excellent social science research has found a home here in Senftenberg. And, by the way, also that teacher research as well as teacher education are not new topics for the Senftenberg campus and that we are well prepared for the student teachers in the fall.

Dr. Saskia Fischer is a psychologist (Bachelor and Master of Science in Psychology at Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg) and has been working at the BTU since June 2016. She received her doctorate in December 2021. She lives in Magdeburg and Senftenberg and, in addition to her work as a research assistant at BTU at the Chair of Educational Psychology for Health Professions (Prof. Bilz) in Magdeburg, is a freelance systemic therapist and psychological expert for family courts. She not only passes on the findings from bullying research in a scientific context, but also regularly translates them into practice in training and continuing education events for educators and teachers.