The fifth meeting of the Central European Network on Fatherhood (CENOF), during the 650th anniversary celebrations of the University of Vienna, took place in the Billrothhaus from 21.09.-23.09.2015, with the support of the Jacobsfoundation.
Within the scope of an international symposium with the title "First insights into the current CENOF Research Study", the first research results from the work of CENOF were presented to a selected specialist public. The guests came mainly from Central Europe (Germany, Austria and Switzerland) and brought their own experiences from research on fathers with them. In addition, representatives of the CENOF research co-operatives from the outpatient department of the Medical University (Renate Fuiko) and the “Niederöster¬reichischem Hilfswerk” (Elke Fuchs) came.
CENOF was represented with its 6 project managers and 15 doctoral students, and was also flanked by 12 master students. The current research results were organized based on six topics (3 lectures each), which were prepared by six CENOF doctoral students. The CENOF project leaders introduced the respective research areas and provided the framework for the research results which were then presented by CENOF PhD students. Two top researchers of research on fatherhood, Michael Lamb (University of Cambridge / UK) and Carol Worthmann (Emory University / USA), commented on the contributions and prepared them for the general discussion.
In addition, many individual research results from the CENOF Research Study were presented by 12 Master students and two PhD students on posters throughout the entire symposium, and a separate discussion block was established to regard these results in a special way.
The symposium, with its multi-faceted debates and discussion forums, was perceived by the approximately 50 participants as extremely lively and constructive, and the research work of CENOF was thoroughly explored and highly valued. Thus, on the sidelines of the symposium, Rector Engl could also convince himself of the successful progress of CENOF research.