• 2024 Visiting Professor at the University of Iceland, School of Education (April / May)
• 2022 Professor for Research in Inclusive Education at the University of Education Freiburg, Department of Education, General Education
• 2016-2022 Tenure-Track-Professor of Inclusive Education and Learning at the University of Education Freiburg and School of Education FACE
• 2015-2016 Associate Professor of Inclusive Pedagogy and Diversity at University of Duisburg-Essen, Faculty of Educational Science
• 2013 - 2015 Lecturer in the Professorship Inclusive Didactics and Heterogeneity at PH FHNW Basel, Institute for Special Pedagogics and Psychology
• 2013 PhD at the University of Cologne - Title: "Inclusion in Canada" (puhlished 2013 at Klinkhardt)
• 2010 - 2013 Research Assistant at the University of Cologne, Faculty of Human Science, Section Pedagogy and Didactics regarding Intellectual Disabilities
• 2008 - 2012 Research Assistant at the University of Cologne, Research Project InKö, Faculty of Human Science

Research focus 

• Inclusive Education: International and cross-cultural perspectives
• Dis/ability in educational organizations
• Social, spatial and critical theories focusing on in-/exclusion
• Reconstructive and participatory research
• Critical Autism Studies in education

Latest publications (selection):

       Edited books

• Köpfer, Andreas & Papke, Katharina (2026, in Vorb.): Kulturelle und soziale Perspektiven auf Autismus – theoretische und empirische Einwürfe mit Blick auf Schule und Unterricht. Bd. 9 der Reihe „Diversitätsorientierte Literatur-, Kultur- und Sprachdidaktik“ (dilikus). Trier: Wissenschaftlicher Verlag Trier (WVT).
• Zahnd, Raphael; Gasterstädt, Julia; Köpfer, Andreas & Schäfer, Lea (2025): ‘Inclusive Education is not Dead, it just Articulates Differently’. Approaches and Pitfalls to International Comparison. Special Issue. European Journal of Inclusive Education 3/2025. Open Access: tidsskrift.dk/ejie/issue/view/12795 [21.12.2025]
• Rissler, Georg; Köpfer, Andreas & Buchner, Tobias (Eds.) (2024): Space, Education, and Inclusion - Interdisciplinary Approaches. London: Routledge. Open Access: www.taylorfrancis.com/books/oa-edit/10.4324/9781003313014/space-education-inclusion-georg-ri%C3%9Fler-andreas-k%C3%B6pfer-tobias-buchner  [Zugriff: 15.03.2024]

• Köpfer, Andreas; Powell, Justin J.W. & Zahnd, Raphael (Hrsg.) (2021): Handbuch Inklusion international. International Handbook of Inclusive Education. Opladen, Berlin, Toronto: Verlag Barbara Budrich. Online verfügbar (open access) unter: shop.budrich-academic.de/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/9783847415770.pdf [25.01.2021].

  Journal Papers

• *Köpfer, Andreas & Proyer, Michelle (2025): In-between culture and category – Cross-cultural comparison as a methodological approach in inclusive education research. In: European Journal of Inclusive Education. Special Issue ‘Inclusive Education is not Dead, it just Articulates Differently’. Approaches and Pitfalls to International Comparison, Jg. 4, H. 3, 25-37. Open Access: tidsskrift.dk/ejie/article/view/150357/204775 [21.12.2025]
• Zahnd, Raphael; Gasterstädt, Julia; Köpfer, Andreas & Schäfer, Lea (2025): Inclusive Education is not Dead, it just Articulates Differently. Approaches and Pitfalls to the International Comparison. In: European Journal of Inclusive Education, Jg. 4, H. 3, 1-8. Open Access: tidsskrift.dk/ejie/article/view/161306/204772 [21.12.2025]
• *Köpfer, Andreas & Papke, Katharina (2025): Die Entrepreneure der Autismus-Arena: eine situationsanalytische Betrachtung im schulischen Feld. In: Empirische Pädagogik, 39(1), 9-24. Open Access: www.vep-landau.de/produkt/empirische-paedagogik-2025-39-1-kap-1-digital/ [15.08.2025]
• Restayn, Ann-Marie & Köpfer, Andreas (2025): Fähige Körper – Zum Zusammenhang zwischen Autismus und gesellschaftlichen Erwartungen. In: Zeitschrift MENSCHEN, H. 1, S. 12-13.
• *Restayn, Ann-Marie; Moore, Allison & Köpfer, Andreas (2024): Autism, Body and Space – How teachers’ ability expectations performatively shape and contain the autistic body in school spaces. In: Zeitschrift für Inklusion, Jg. 19, H. 2. Open Access: www.inklusion-online.net/index.php/inklusion-online/article/view/740/546 [15.07.2024]
• *Restayn, Ann-Marie; Köpfer, Andreas & Wittwer, Jörg (2022): Der ‚autistische Körper‘ – eine empirische Perspektivierung vor dem Hintergrund schulischer Fähigkeitserwartungen. In: Zeitschrift für Disability Studies, Jg. 1, H. 2. Online verfügbar unter zds-online.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/ZDS_2022_2_5_Restayn_Koepfer_Wittwer.pdf [Zugriff: 24.05.2022]
• *Nind, Melanie; Köpfer, Andreas & Lemmer, Kathrin (2022): Children’s spaces of belonging in schools: Bringing theories and perspectives into dialogue. In: International Journal of Inclusive Education. Online first (open access): www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13603116.2022.2073061  [Zugriff: 24.05.2022]

• *Köpfer, Andreas (2022): Reconstructing Students‘ Appropriation of Space in Inclusive Schools in Austria and Germany Using Bourdieu’s Theory of Social Space. In: International Journal of Inclusive Education. Online first: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13603116.2022.2073057  [Zugriff: 24.05.2022]
  *Buchner, Tobias & Köpfer, Andreas (2022). Mapping the field. Spatial relations in research on inclusion and exclusion in education. In International Journal of Inclusive Education. Online first: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13603116.2022.2073058   

  Chapters

• Restayn, Ann-Marie; Moore, Allison & Köpfer, Andreas (2025): Assigned Territories - On the Nexus of Diagnosing and Distancing in Inclusive Schools through Goffman's lens. In: E. Done (Hrsg.): Theorising Exclusionary Pressures in Education. London: Palgrave, S. 97-111.

• Köpfer, Andreas (2024): Re-visiting Kracauer’s Perspectives on Space and Inclusion/Exclusion. In: G. Rissler, A. Köpfer & T. Buchner, Tobias (Eds.): Interdisciplinary Approaches to Space in Inclusive Education. London: Routledge, S. 107-125.
   

  Link to full publication list

Latest National & international Lectures (selection)

• Köpfer, Andreas: Inclusive Education and Parents’ Experiences – Reconstructions and Transnational Comparisons. Invited Paper Presentation in the International Centre for Early Years Education Seminar Series at Edge Hill University, April 23, 2026.
• Papke, Katharina; Zobel Yannick & Köpfer, Andreas: Epistemic justice in Critcal Autism Studies (CAS) - Reflections on the methodological doxa. Paper of the Research Group AutiSE at the Disability Studies Conference at the University of Leeds, April 13, 2026.
• Köpfer, Andreas & Weitkämper, Florian: The Relation of Critical and Reconstructive Approaches to Inclusive Education - an Exploration in the International Context. Vortrag bei der Tagung "Beyond Binaries. Advancing Inclusion and Social Justice through Decolonization and Critical Global Citizenship in Education" am 26. September 2025 an der PH Ludwigsburg.
• Köpfer, Andreas & Óskarsdóttir, Edda: The Relation Between Teachers and Support Agents in Germany and Iceland – a Cross-cultural Comparison. Vortrag bei der ECER-Conference am 10. September 2025 an der Universität Belgrad.
• Fritzsche, Bettina, Gasterstädt, Julia & Köpfer, Andreas: Between Formal Constraints and Educational Demands: Student Assistants in Germany. Vortrag im Double-Symposium "Comparing and Contrasting the Role of Teaching Assistants in the UK, US, China, Germany and Ireland" bei der ECER-Conference am 11. September 2025 an der Universität Belgrad.
• Köpfer, Andreas: Von der Krise zur Exotik des Alltags – schulische Verortungen am Beispiel Autismus. Key-Note Vortrag bei der 8. Arbeitstagung der AG Inklusionsforschung in der DGfE "Inklusion und Exklusion an Orten des pädagogischen Handelns" am 4. Juli 2025 an der Universität Siegen.
• Moore, Allison; Köpfer, Andreas & Restayn, Ann-Marie: Assigned Territories and Irritation of Order – (Un)Knowing Autism in Education. Vortrag im Rahmen der Nordic Network on Disability Research Conference (NNDRC) am 8. Mai 2025 an der Universität Helsinki.
• Köpfer, Andreas: Die Diagnose als ‚Eintrittskarte‘ – intergenerationale Rekonstruktionen am Beispiel Autismus. Vortrag im Symposium "Zur Rolle und (Trans-)Formation von Diagnosen im Kontext von Bildung" bei der Inklusionsforscher:innentagung (IFO) an der Universität zu Köln am 19. Februar 2025.
• Köpfer, Andreas: The Practice of Autism - Using Kracauer's Spatial Theory to Analyze Marginalization in Schools. Vortrag im Rahmen der WERA/BERA Conference an der University of Manchester am 11. September 2024.
• Köpfer, Andreas: Cross-cultural Perspectives on Inclusive Education – Reconstructing Support Agent’s Practices in School using the Documentary Method. Presentation (invited) at the University of Iceland, School of Education, on April 30, 2024.
• Köpfer, Andreas: Space, Education, and Inclusion. Vortrag bei der internationalen Konferenz „Latest Research in the Field of Inclusive Education” der Universitas Negeri Surabaya, Indonesien, am 1. Dezember 2023 (invited digital lecture).
• Köpfer, Andreas & Papke, Katharina: Situational Analysis as a Methodological Approach to Face the Complexity of the ‘Autism Arena’ in Education. Vortrag im Rahmen des Symposiums "Challenging contemporary orthodoxy in Autism Studies – implications to inclusive education" (Hallett/Köpfer) im Rahmen der European Conference for Educational Research (ECER) "The Value of Diversity in Education" an der University of Glasgow am 25. August 2023.

• Gasterstädt, Julia; Köpfer, Andreas; Proyer, Michelle; Zahnd, Raphael & Aust, Robert: Inclusive Education is not Dead, it just Articulates Differently. Discussing Approaches and Pitfalls to the International Comparison. Research Workshop im Rahmen der European Conference for Educational Research (ECER) "The Value of Diversity in Education" an der University of Glasgow am 22. August 2023.
  Köpfer, Andreas: Agency and belonging in inclusive schools. Vortrag (invited) im Rahmen der Konferenz "Lessons of resilience and social inclusion from the Covid-19 pandemic" der British Academy im Kohn Center/Royal Society in London am 2. Juni 2023.

  Link to full list of lectures