MUNICH (LMU) – The psychologist and special needs teacher Professor Tirussew Teferra has received a Georg Forster Research Award from the Humboldt Foundation, and is spending a sabbatical for research purposes at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (LMU) as the guest of Professor Annette Leonhardt (Chair of Education for the Deaf and the Hearing Impaired).
Professor Tirussew Teferra was the first researcher in Ethiopia to focus on the needs, care and rehabilitation of children with physical or mental disabilities, and his studies and research publications essentially established the subject of Special Needs Education as a scientific discipline in the country. In addition, he has become a leading advocate for science not only in Ethiopia but in the whole of Sub-Saharan Africa, and is a globally recognized expert in his chosen field. His research, which covers a wide range of topics, has yielded a plethora of unexpected insights. In 1995, he led a groundbreaking baseline study which resulted in the first scientific survey of the numbers of people with disabilities in Ethiopia. During his stay at LMU, Professor Tirussew* intends to study aspects of internationally and interculturally comparing special needs education, and questions relating to inclusion, early interventions and the problems associated with the education of children with sensory disabilities.
Tirussew Teferra is Professor of Psychology and Special Needs Education at the College of Education and Behavioral Studies at the Addis Ababa University in Ethiopia. Having graduated in Psychology there, he earned a Master’s degree in Special Needs Education and Psychology of the Handicapped from Humboldt University of Berlin and went on to obtain his PhD there in 1990. Upon his return to his alma mater in Addis Ababa he established the field of prevention and rehabilitation of disabilities at Addis Ababa University. Tirussew Teferra has won a number of international honors for his outstanding contributions to research and innovation in the field of education, including the Jan Amos Comenius Medal, which is awarded by UNESCO in recognition of outstanding achievements in the fields of educational research and innovation.
* Ethiopians use patronymic names rather than family names. That is, a person in Ethiopia is addressed by his/her given name as there is no such thing as ‘family name’ or ‘inherited name.’
Source: LMU