Dr. phil. Torsten Linke is an agricultural machinery mechanic and professor. Since March 2020 - and therefore brand new at our HSZG - he has been teaching on the Bachelor's degree course in Social Work in Görlitz. With his areas of vocation of social casework, professional ethics and social management, he fits in well there too.

Born in Eisenach, in the west of Thuringia, in 1972, Linke grew up in the former GDR and graduated from a polytechnic secondary school. Then came the political change and for Linke, training as an agricultural machinery mechanic was a predetermined path in life. It was only when he worked as an industrial-technical trainer from 2000 to 2001 that he came into contact with educationally disadvantaged young people, bringing him closer to his true calling. "That's when I realized that there was still a lot to do," says Linke. At that time, his work with young people confronted him with their social problems and the most diverse living environments.

Influenced by this, Linke studied for a degree in social work/social education at Merseburg University of Applied Sciences from 2002. "You need practical skills to tackle and solve problems," says Linke. "Social work is practical work - if I had only ever worked in the academic field, I wouldn't have gained valuable experience that helps me in my work today." During his studies, he spent two years working in residential youth care in Leipzig. The qualified social pedagogue completed his studies in 2007. And Linke began working in outpatient youth welfare services in Leipzig. He worked there as a social worker and team leader until 2014.

He remained loyal to Merseburg University of Applied Sciences and began his part-time Master's degree in Applied Sexology in 2010. Linke received an award for the best Master's thesis in the Department of Social Work.Media.Culture at the end of his studies in 2013.

Until 2016, Linke taught at his home high school in Merseburg: he was a teacher for special tasks and taught on the BA courses in Social Work and Cultural and Media Education. From 2016 to 2020, he worked as a research assistant in the BMBF-funded research project "Protecting children and young people from sexual traumatization" in Merseburg. He also worked on his doctorate at the University of Kassel. Graded summa cum laude, Linke's dissertation on "Sexual education in child and youth welfare " was recently published by Psychosozial-Verlag. Linke has now been a professor at the HSZG since the beginning of March 2020. Luckily, Dr. phil. Torsten Linke likes hiking. Hopefully he'll stay for a while longer. Because we have mountains here, in the border triangle. A warm welcome!