Background
Teaching (in Secondary Education) is my original profession, which I chose hoping to contribute to the social and personal growth of young individuals. Upon realizing that the school system I was working in did not leave enough room to do this, I gained qualifications in Outdoor Learning and Outdoor Adventure Education (OAE), left public service as a teacher, and worked as a facilitator for team development in the profit and non profit sector. Offering my insights from OAE to alleviate some shortcomings in the formal school system, I conducted my PhD research project on ‘Experiential Education in the classroom’ and went into train-the-trainer facilitation. Further specialisations and qualifications followed.
In 2013, I joined the Outdoor Environmental Education Unit at Moray House with an EU-funded research project. Since then, I have been teaching on the MSc Outdoor Environmental Education and Initial Teacher Education programmes at Moray House as well as conducting my own research and being involved in varying projects.
Qualifications
- Staatsexamen (~MSc) in Special Education (Pädagogische Hochschule Heidelberg, Germany)
- Staatsexamen (Teaching Certificate; State of Baden-Württemberg, Germany)
- Dr. phil. (Ludwigs-Maximilians-Universität, München, Germany)
- Postgraduate Certificate of Academic Practice (The University of Edinburgh)
- Accredited as ‘Fellow‘ (Higher Education Academy)
- various professional qualifications
Responsibilities & Affiliations
- Academic advisor and Research coordinator, Centre of Innovative Education – an international foundation and EU lobbyist promoting innovative approaches to remedy educational challenges across Europe
- Co-founder and Train-the-trainer, Centre for Experiential Learning – a training and service provider for experiential learning and outdoor adventure education in Germany