Short biography

Lea Knopf, born in Aurich, studied a bachelor's degree in political science and sinology at Eberhard Karls University in Tübingen from 2012 to 2017. She spent 2013-14 at Nanjing University in Nanjing, PR China. 

Following her bachelor's degree, Lea studied a master's degree in social policy at the University of Bremen. As part of this, she worked as a student assistant on various research projects, including the MVP-STAT project. Lea was also a project officer for BAGSO, organising an expert workshop on violence prevention in domestic care funded by the Federal Ministry for Education, Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth (BMFSFJ). 

Between 2019 and 2021, she worked at the Demenz Informations und Koordinationsstelle (DIKS) in Bremen as a counsellor for people with dementia and their relatives, and at the same time on a research project on students with care responsibilities at Goethe University Frankfurt. 

From 2021 to 2022, Lea was a DAAD language assistant for German as a foreign language at Alexandru Ioan Cuza University in Iasi, Romania. She spent late-2022 to mid-2025 in Australia, conducting independent research on the experiences of young adults with working holiday visas. 

Since November 2025, she has been working as a research assistant on the INGVER Connect project at the Department of Health Services Research, Faculty VI – Medicine and Health Services Research, Division of Prevention and Rehabilitation Research at Carl von Ossietzky University Oldenburg.

Research interests

• Structures of exclusion and support in precarious life situations

• Inequalities in health and care

• Welfare state research

• Life courses and transitions in life

• Qualitative methods, especially interviews

Research project

INGVER Connect

Publications

Knopf, L & Migrant Workers Centre Melbourne (2025): ‘Backpacker’ Dispatches: Working Holiday Stories from Australia, research report, online: ‘Backpacker’ Dispatches: Working Holiday Stories from Australia - Migrant Workers Centre.

Wazinski, K; Knopf, L; Wanka, A & Hess; M (2022): Invisible Caregivers: The ‘hidden lives’ of German university students with care responsibilities. In: Zeitschrift für Hochschulforschung, 17(4): 217-233.

Wazinski, K; Knopf, L; Wanka, A & Hess, M (2022): Hochschulen als Teil von Caring Societies – Herausforderungen und Unterstützung von Studierenden mit Pflegeaufgaben [Universities as part of Caring Societies – Challenges and support of students with care responsibilities], in: Knobloch, U./Theobald, H./Dengler, C./Kleinert, A./Gnadt, C./Lehner, H. (eds.), Caring Societies – Sorgende Gesellschaften. Neue Abhängigkeiten oder mehr Gerechtigkeit?, Weinheim: Beltz Juventa, pp.85-96.

Knopf, L; Wazinski, K; Wanka, A & Hess, M (2022): Caregiving students: A systematic literature review of an under-researched group. In: Journal of Further and Higher Education, 46(6): 822-835.

Del Giudice, L; Knopf, L & Weber, M (2021): Qualitative Inhaltsanalysen bei Reden im Kontext rechter Protestmobilisierungen [Qualitative content analysis of speeches in the context of right-wing protests], In: Diefenbach, A., Knopp, P., Kocyba, P., & Sommer, S. (eds.) Rechte Proteste erforschen: Erfahrungen und Reflexionen aus der qualitativen und quantitativen Forschung (IPB Working Papers, 4). Berlin: Institut für Protest- und Bewegungsforschung (IPB): 53-58.

Wazinski, K; Knopf, L; Wanka, A & Hess; M (2020): How does COVID-19 affect Caring Students? Challenges of Reconciling Studies and Care during the Pandemic, [online] https://ltccovid.org/2020/09/14/how-does-covid-19-affect-caring-students-challenges-of-reconciling-studies-and-care-during-the-pandemic/.

Del Giudice, L; Ebner, N; Knopf, L & Weber, M (2020): Was sagt Pegida? Eine Analyse von Reden bei Pegida in Dresden [What does Pegida say? An analysis of speeches held at Pegida rallies in Dresden], in: Backes, U & S Kailitz (eds.), Sachsen – Eine Hochburg des Rechtsextremismus?, Goettingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, pp. 101-126.

Conference presentation

Del Giudice, L; Ebner, N; Knopf, L & Weber, M: Was sagt Pegida? [What does Pegida say?], Conference presentation at Hochburg des Rechtsextremismus? Sachsen im interregionalen und internationalen Vergleich. International Conference at the Hannah-Arendt-Institut fuer Totalitarismusforschung (HAIT), 7- 8 September 2017.