Tobias "Tobi" Kindler, Ph.D.

Nancy A. Humphreys Institute for Political Social Work Postdoc.Mobility Fellow

Tobias “Tobi” Kindler is the UConn School of Social Work’s Nancy A. Humphreys Institute for Political Social Work Postdoc.Mobility Fellow funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (appointment starting October 2026).

Dr. Kindler’s research interests include political social work, social policy, children’s rights, and the well-being of young people in residential care. As part of his postdoctoral research, he plans to examine the experiences of social workers serving as elected officials in U.S. state legislatures, including how they use their positions to advance policies aligned with social work values and principles.

Dr. Kindler is the co-editor of two books and the co-author of numerous journal articles published nationally and internationally. His work appears in Child & Family Social Work, Children and Youth Services Review, European Journal of Social Work, and the Journal of Policy Practice and Research, among other publications.

Dr. Kindler, who is fluent in English, German, and French, comes to UConn from St. Gallen, Switzerland, where he works as a social worker and researcher. He recently earned a Ph.D. in social work from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His dissertation, titled “Social Workers in the Policy Process: A Case Study of Swiss Social Workers’ Policy Engagement,” explored social workers’ policy engagement through an in-depth analysis of their involvement in a highly contested reform of social assistance in Switzerland.

He earned his BSW and MSW from the Eastern Switzerland University of Applied Sciences. During his graduate studies, he worked as a research associate, contributing to a range of qualitative and quantitative research projects. He also taught courses on social policy, policy practice, and research methodologies.