Book Launch

Invitation to Book Launch

The Centre for the Study of Contemporary Solidarity warmly invites you to the presentation of our book:

Koen Bartels and Hendrik Wagenaar (2025) Doing Interpretive Research: Learning and Teaching Imagination in Interpretive Research, Oxford: Oxford University Press

In this book the authors provide a novel approach to methods teaching by making the student’s experience the centre of the processes of learning and teaching. They pay special attention to the role of emotions in the learning process, and the way that negative emotions such as doubt and anxiety can impart learning. Instead of presenting guidelines for applying research methods, they offer heuristics - open-ended strategies of inquiry and discovery for improving the practice of research. Uniquely, they demonstrate how emotions can be leveraged in the learning process to uncover surprising new insights about social reality and unlock researchers’ imagination. The book’s purpose is to make doubt productive and turn research into an enjoyable, imaginative experience.

Program & Locations

1. Hendrik Wagenaar. Fellow at the Centre for the Science of Contemporary Soldariity, Department of Political Science, University of Vienna - Introduction (10 minutes)

2. Emma Dowling, Associate professor, Department of Sociology, University of Vienna: discussant - 15 minutes

3. Yuki Seidler, CEU Science for Society Hub Manager, Central European University - 15 minutes

4. Discussion

Date and Time: Monday, January 12, 2026, 17.00 – 18.30.

The book launch is followed by a reception.

Location. Uni Vienna, Building Alte Kapelle (Old Chapel) on Campus Altes AKH, Spitalgasse 2, 1090 Vienna