Prof. Dr. Annett Thiele has been the Vice President for Early Career Researchers and Equal Opportunities at the University of Oldenburg since January 1, 2020.

After finishing her professional training as a pediatric nurse, Prof. Dr. Thiele began her studies in special needs education (disabilities) at the University of Bremen. Afterwards, she worked as a scientific associate at the Universities of Oldenburg, Dortmund and Halle. In 2007, Prof. Dr. Thiele was awarded her doctorate for her work on the written language acquisition of students with serious movement and communication disorders. Before she was offered a professorship in Leipzig, Prof. Dr. Thiele was a visiting professor at the Humboldt University of Berlin for a year.

Prof. Dr. Thiele is co-publisher of the “Schriften zur Körperbehindertenpädagogik” (Papers in Education of Physical Disabilities) as well as a member of the scientific advisory board of the International Society for Complementary and Alternative Communication, and the trade journal “Heilpädagogik und ihre Nachbargebiete” (Curative Education and Neighboring Areas). In her research Prof. Dr. Thiele is uniting two different areas in special education: the inclusion and increased participation of students with serious physical impairment, as well as those with chronic and life-threatening illness. The work focuses particularly on children and adolescents with neurological paralysis and oncological illness.