Civil society, gender, and peace. Insights into teaching-integrated research

Abstract In the winter semester of 2022/23, an accompanying research project was conducted as part of a project seminar, which focused on the design of one’s own teaching (SoTL) and the evaluation of students’ learning progress, based on the premise of the unity of research and teaching, which is omnipresent in everyday university life, and the approach of inquiry-based learning. Particular emphasis was placed on the direct practical relevance of civil society organizations as potential professional fields and the topicality of the issue played a prominent role. The seminar content focused on women’s and gender-political peace organizations in the context of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. It explored how they define and seek to achieve peace including their goals, strategies and scopes for actions. The project seminar was accompanied by the lecturer’s introspective reflection a professional dialog with one colleague, and by collecting feedback from the students. In addition to analyzing the students learning process through a comparative content analysis, this research paper presents a meta-analysis of learning and research on current, practice-oriented topics, taking into account the structural conditions and challenges. The aim of the article focuses the significance of research-based learning for exploring current topics, while also emphasizing of a reflective attitude in the sense of Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SOTL).