KISD - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Student and Guest Advisor
Job Titles:
- Member of Committee for Research
Hendrik Arnold completed his master's degree in product design and process development at TH Köln in 2017. He then worked as a consultant in the aviation and rail industry, where he organized workshops and work processes according to the guidelines of lean management.
During his previous design studies with a focus on product design at the University of Applied Sciences in Münster, he benefited from his experience as a metalworker. In 2014 he was nominated for the German Design Award as Newcomer of the Year.
Since November 2020 he leads the KISD metal workshop and supports the students in implementing their ideas.
Job Titles:
- International Relations Officer
Lisa Janßen studied German Studies and Italian Studies at the Universities of Bonn and Florence and graduated with a Master of Arts in 2003. Subsequently, she worked for the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) in Bonn, from 2005 on, she assumed responsibility for the development of the International Office of Alanus University of Arts and Social Sciences, Alfter. Besides that, she became involved in project-based assignments in different fields in science and research for, among others, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich (LMU München), German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), Adult Education Center Bonn (VHS Bonn), and the Academy for International Education Bonn (AIB Bonn).
Since September 2008, Lisa Janßen serves as the International Relations Officer at KISD - Köln International School of Design of TH Köln, Faculty of Cultural Sciences. With her longstanding experience, she supports and fosters the strategic and conceptual advancement of KISD's internationalization, is actively engaged in the further exchange across faculties and domestic and international universities, and is also responsible for the acquisition of third-party funds for the benefit of both students‘ and teachers‘ exchange and mobility. At KISD, she also works as a coordinator for the degree course European Design (MEDes) and serves as Head of the Team Internationalization of Universities within the Cumulus Association, a globally unique network of arts and design institutions with currently 340 members from 61 countries.
Job Titles:
- Press and Public Relations Officer
Michelle Schopen studied Online Journalism (B.A.) and is a trained production manager for film and television productions. Since January 2022, she is head of the Communication Center at KISD. Moreover she has been working as a freelance journalist for museums, cultural editors, TV stations and other media companies since 2003.
Andreas Wrede studied at the Faculty of Arts in the Department of Communication Design as well as design in the "Cologne Model" at the Faculty of Humanities of the Cologne University of Applied Sciences.
In 1995 Birgit Mager started teaching as a professor for "Service Design" at the University of Applied Sciences Cologne (KISD), Germany. As she was the first professor ever in this field, she always felt that it is part of the responsibility as a professor to create awareness and interest in the graduates and make sure they will find jobs! So it was not only her interest to develop the theory and methodology of service design and to build a curriculum around these - she always put emphasis on collaboration with real partners in the private and public sector, to publish, to talk on conferences - to spread the word about service design!
Job Titles:
- Professor of Design Theory and Research at the Köln International School of Design of TH Köln
Carolin Höfler is Professor of Design Theory and Research at the Köln International School of Design of TH Köln. Since 2018 she is also speaker for the transdisciplinary research center "Echtzeitstadt | Real-Time City" at TH Köln. Currently, she leads the master's program "Integrated Design" in cooperation with Prof. Andreas Wrede. She studied art history, modern German literature and theatre & film (M. A.) as well as architecture (TU Diploma) at universities in Cologne, Vienna, and Berlin. In her dissertation, which was completed at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, she explored the history and theory of computational design in architecture.
From 2003 to 2013, she was a teacher and researcher at the Technische Universität Braunschweig, Institute of Media and Design. Since 2014, she is partner of the office "oza _studio for architecture and scenography" in Berlin, which is dedicated to the design of scenographic temporary, experimental and urban spaces as well as curatorial practices in space.
She conceives design as a speculative medium for exploring the central categories of contemporary life: technology, politics, energy, media, and information. Her approach insists on an expansive historical, cultural and technical analysis, which motivates, surrounds and informs the design work.
Her research interests include design processes and material systems in architecture and design, forms of medial spatiality and ephemeral urbanization, as well as forensic methods and design practices of spatial analysis.
Since April 2016, Nina Juric is professor for the area of expertise and research area of "Image & Motion". She lives in Cologne, Berlin, and Europe.
As a designer, filmmaker and artist, her key areas are conceptually strong short formats such as music videos, experimental animation shorts, on air-promotions, type-'n'-motion-clips, interactive video installations, visual music or commercials with keen fashion aesthetic. She is passionate about distinctive styles, expanded cinema, type, music and experimental graphics, high-conceptual art films, scenography, innovative interaction concepts and interfaces of new technologies and generative design.
For more than 15 years, she has been involved in time-based design, production and technology: often in the context of art, real time- and spatial-related subjects where code is involved. Since ever, she understands herself as an all-rounder for new media creation and new formats of experiences.
She studied art and media and postgraduated in TV & Film design at the filmakademie Baden-Württemberg to run riot in the field of arty (audio-)visual communication. She worked for and with artists like Olafur Eliasson or Martin Eder, agencies like Meta Design or Strichpunkt, generative design studios like Onformative and big companies like the Virtual Reality Center of Daimler Chrysler.
In 2014, she was the Creative Director for Concept and Strategy at Saatchi & Saatchi Pro, Berlin.
She founded her first company before she even studied, and stayed since that a successful entrepreneur with the motion design studio Nindustrict. Since 2011, she co-founded the typographic concept store Letters Are My Friends indulging in the mix of type and new technologies. The unique and international well-known concept & design studio coined that very term Type & Tech as a synergetic field of both design research areas.
Since 2013, she is been engaged in teaching, for instance at Zurich University of the Arts as a lecturer for Type 'n' Motion, event-packaging formats (i.e. the ADC Switzerland Awards) and interdisciplinary design practice. In 2015, she served as interim professor for the discipline of audiovisual media for the design department at FH Münster, University of Applied Sciences.
Nina Juric gives lectures and workshops nationally and internationally (2017 Fine Art Cologne / 2016 Selected Europe, Bilbao / OFFF 2016, Barcelona / Typo Berlin 2015 / 2013 Apple Store Typetalk, Berlin / Typotage Leipzig 2015 / HAW Stilvorlagen #10 2016, Hamburg and many more) and is guest at various exhibitions and festivals (OFFF Festival 2016, Barcelona / Retune Festival 2016, Berlin / Tech Open Air, Berlin 2016 / Siggraph 2005 (Special Jury Honors) / Ars Electronica 2005 (Golden Nica) and more).
Her inauguration lecture at KISD was on November 9, 2016, on the topic Bumps & Displacements Tripping on a timeline.
Philipp Heidkamp holds a degree in Visual Communication / Digital Media from HfG University of Design Schwäbisch Gmünd, Germany. He was running his own design studio in Cologne for 20 years working for various clients and cultural projects (Siemens, EXPO2000, Bertelsmann, Management Engineers, Land NRW, Deutsche Telekom, Verlag Walther König, Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung, Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln, Tanzarchiv NRW, Valie Export).
In parallel, he was teaching at different Universities across Europe. Since 2001, he is appointed as full Professor and Chair for Interface / Interaction Design at KISD (Köln International School of Design at TH Köln) having more than 25 years of academic experience in the design teaching and research on the one hand and organizational development, leadership and science management on the other hand.
He is currently Head of Program MA Integrated Design Research/ European Studies in Design (MEDes) and is elected as Vice Dean International. In 2002, he has been elected as Director of KISD for 4 years, in 2006 he has been elected as Dean of the Faculty of Cultural Sciences at TH Köln until 2018. He was heading both the MA Integrated Design and the MA European Design program for years. He co-initiated and implemented three MA Double-Degree programs with strategic partner universities in Shanghai (Tongji), Tokyo (ChibaU), and Taipei (NTUST).
Philipp is experienced in strategic development of organizations and programs, cross-faculty collaborations and a passionate driver of change processes. He has a strong legacy in strategic academic internationalization - collaborating with partners from all over the world since more than 20 years. Besides collaborations in existing structures, he is developing new formats (e.g. the Global Cultural Library Project) inside and parallel to existing academic structures and paths. As a founding member of the Global Design Initiative with Lasalle College of the Arts Singapore, ual London, SCID Taipei and Musashino Art University Tokyo, he is pushing the boundaries of both the design agenda and educational / academic formats to come. In 2017, he was appointed as Senior Fellow of Musashino Art University, Tokyo to reward his support for this University. In 2109, he was elected as Executive Board Member of the Cumulus Association and served as a Vice President of Cumulus for 3 years. Philipp served in different institutions as Executive Board Member (e.g. EQ-Arts, the European Quality Assurance Register for Higher Arts Education) or Advisory Board Member (e.g. SeeKicks, at the Berlin Weißensee Art Academy and Cumulus Association). He lectures and runs design workshops, joins different university evaluation committees and assessment boards in various countries in Europe, Middle East, Asia, Africa and South America.
His focus in design shifted from information and interface design to Human Environment Interaction s and Systems Oriented Design. As a consequence, he was one of the founding members of the research lab "Realtime City" at the TH Köln in 2018.
In 2023, he started a research sabbatical on Design and Proximity Food Systems in Barcelona, connected to different academic institutions and hosted by ELISAVA as a visiting professor.
Prof. Wolfgang Laubersheimer was born in Bad Kreuznach. After his high-school graduation he completed an apprenticeship as an industrial clerk and then studied metal sculpture in Cologne. In 1982 he founded together with other designers and artists the production company for furniture « Unikate» and in 1985 the design group «Pentagon».
As an independent designer or as a member of the group «Pentagon» he participated in countless exhibitions as e.g. «Wohnen von Sinnen», «documenta 8», «Bienale Sao Paolo», «Maßstäbe»in the architectuzre museum Frankfurt, or «Design Horizonte».
He participated in many competitions he was invited for, cooperated with companies as e.g.: Swatch, AEG, Mercedes-Benz and Tiffany, has his own production company and leaded guest projects at the Polytechnikum in Hongkong and at the UCLA in Los Angeles.
Since 1992 he is a professor for production technology at the Köln International School of Design.