What I stand for

I am a scientist first and foremost; interested in answering questions that matter. For example, how to allow more people to think critically, or how to help people make healthier lifestyle changes (reflection, persuasive technology).

I think that you should use the best design and methods for the research question at hand. The methods you use limit what you can detect and every method has its limitations, no matter whether they are quantitative or qualitative methods.

I love interdisciplinary work; having worked, among others, with computer scientists, therapists, museum curators, educators, and managers. It's not necessary the most straightforward work and there has to be a lot of meta-communication about definitions, goals, personal agenda and the agenda of the discipline. But if the communication works the process and the outcomes are incredible.

I am interested in good teaching and good advisory; it's the next generation of scientists that counts and this should not be delegated to classes only or to formalized programs (you find more information about my stance on teaching in this self-reflection -- in German only). Related to this aspect, I am also highly interested in scientific work methods, more in the sense of a Getting Things Done for scientists, but much broader than task management. I combine both by giving talks and workshops on the topic and have (self-)published a book about it based on one of my Blogs (or the Blog is based on the book, there is a lot of synergy involved).

I believe that science has a responsibility, to give involved in public discussions and to give something back for the funding it gets. I also think that you can make the greatest contribution if you are actually involved in the topics you research (as far as this is possible -- or healthy). Frankly I think that whenever possible, you should eat your own dogfood (or drink your own Champagne). So when I talked about "people" earlier, I included myself, and when I say I am interested in mobile devices, I mean that I not only use mobile devices (iPhone, iPad, iPod nano, MacBook Pro), but that I am also able to write (simple) iOS Apps. You learn a lot by actually using and modifying these devices.