Within the framework of a student project between 2017 and 2018, the St. Pölten UAS conducted systematic research on the history of the branch Kirchberg am Wagram (which belongs to the “Bundeserziehungsanstalt Kaiserebersdorf in Wien”) together with formerly affected adolescents. With the broad participation of TV, radio, and print media, the project provided fundamental insights into historical contexts and prevailing grievances. In the course of systematic biography work with affected persons, past events were addressed and documented.

At present, the project team continues to hold contact with four formerly affected persons who participated in the student project in 2017 and offered access to the facility at that time. However, systematic accompanying research on effects and learning experiences has yet to be conducted, which is why we lack fundamental insights into the following topics:

• Questions of restoration and recovery (Wiencke 2011)
• Questions of mentalization and coping through proactive biography work (see Baum-Breuer 2014; see also Przyborski/Wohlrab-Sahr 2014)
• Questions concerning the formation of networks and peer groups that draw a comparison between the groups of affected persons on the one hand and care leavers on the other hand (Sievers/Thomas 2016)
• Questions pertaining to the establishment of organizational standards that take provisional effect in organizations of external placement and care (keyword: organizational transformation)