Dr. phil. Clara Bombach
CV
Clara Bombach studied Literary, Cultural and Media Studies at the University of Siegen and Université Jean Monnet de Saint-Étienne, completing her Bachelor’s degree. In 2012, she completed a Master’s degree in Social and Cultural Anthropology at the University of Lucerne. During a research semester in South Africa, she examined kinship-based foster care arrangements among families in Lawaaikamp. In 2023, she received her doctorate in Educational Science from the University of Zurich and published her dissertation Waiting for Transfer – Children’s Lives in the Non-Place of the Camp. For this ethnographic study of children’s everyday lives in collective asylum accommodation, she received the Young Researchers Award from the Swiss Society for Social Work. In 2024, Bombach completed a Certificate of Advanced Studies (CAS) in Higher Education Didactics, and in 2025 she was awarded the title of Professor by Bern University of Applied Sciences (BFH).
Since 2012, Clara Bombach has been teaching and conducting research in the fields of childhood studies, biographical research, and refugee studies at Zurich University of Applied Sciences, the Marie Meierhofer Institute for the Child, and Bern University of Applied Sciences.
Clara Bombach works on qualitative research projects focusing on child and youth welfare, migration, and forced displacement. Her research explores the diverse conditions in which children and young people grow up. A particular focus of her work is on the experiences of children and young people in out-of-home placements and on their subsequent biographical trajectories. Her ongoing research projects place particular emphasis on children’s experiences in collective asylum accommodation and on the effects of mandated placement changes, referred to as “transfers.”
Research
Research Interests
- Refugee and forced migration studies
- Biographical research
- Coercive welfare measures and institutional placements in Switzerland
- Childhood studies: child and youth welfare, family, and growing up
- Qualitative research methods
Regional Interests
- Switzerland
- South Africa
Research Projects
Ongoing Projects
2026–2030 After the Transfer – Life Trajectories Following Collective Accommodation. Mixed-methods study on the number, reasons for, and effects of transfers within the asylum system on the development and lives of children and young people (foundations).
2026–2028 Child-Friendly Illustrations of Everyday Life in Collective Accommodation. Science communication project: travelling exhibition (launch at the Children’s Museum Baden) and brochure featuring child-friendly illustrations of the everyday lives of children in collective accommodation (foundations).
2025–2027 NFP 81: Baukultur in the context of forced migration (SNSF, BFH). The project contributes to sustainable building culture and to overcoming temporariness and exclusion.
2025–2027 Evaluation of Support Services Provided by Community Key Persons in Early Childhood (City of Zurich, BFH). In the Canton of Zurich, so-called key persons support refugee families with preschool-aged children. To what extent does this improve their access to early childhood services and their integration into society?
2023–2027 In-work poverty and its impact on family life. Child and parent perspectives (SNSF, BFH). Perspectives of children and parents. Employment does not necessarily protect against poverty. In Switzerland, 8.3% of all employed people are at risk of poverty. Two-thirds of affected households have children. How do children and parents experience this situation?
Completed Projects
2024–2025 Feasibility Study “After the Transfer” (BFH). During their asylum procedures, children experience repeated disruptions and breaks in their lives. How do children’s lives develop against the backdrop of multiple transfers, and what do these disruptions mean for their development?
2017–2023 Waiting for Transfer: Children’s Lives in the Non-Place of the Camp (doctoral dissertation). Ethnographic study of children’s everyday lives in collective accommodation.
2019–2023 Institutional Placements of Young Children – Life Stories 60 Years Later. NFP 76 Welfare and Coercion (MMI).
2017–2019 Child-Friendly Accommodation and Care for Unaccompanied Minor Asylum Seekers in Federal Asylum Centres (SEM, ZHAW).
2018–2019 Evaluation of the MegaMarie Play, Creative and Meeting Space (MMI).
2014–2019 Foster Care Placement Breakdown in England, Germany and Switzerland (Jacobs Foundation, ZHAW).
2014–2017 Everyday Life in Children’s and Young People’s Residential Homes in Winterthur (1950–1990) (City of Winterthur, ZHAW).
2014–2018 Placing Children in Care: Child Welfare in Switzerland (1950–1990) (SNSF Sinergia, ZHAW).
2013–2015 Impact Analysis of Mother-and-Child Services in the Canton of Zurich (AJB, ZHAW).
2013 Foster Families in Agriculture: Care Farming – A Systems Analysis (ZHAW).
2011–2012 Gender Mainstreaming in the Welfare State (NFP 61 Gender Equality, University of Lucerne).
