Professional Experience

In the summer of 2009, I dubbed myself a “Writing Coach” and posted a few dozen flyers around Boston. To my delight, clients called and Hendren Writing was launched.

Since then, I have provided communication consulting to companies and academics in the US, Europe and Asia. My client portfolio spans from startups to DAX 30 companies, small think tanks to large universities.

Complementing my consulting work, I was a lecturer in scientific writing at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) from 2012 to 2019. As the founding coordinator of the TUM’s English Writing Center, I helped grow the program over five years into a robust service reaching over 4,000 students per year. At TUM’s higher education pedagogy department (ProLehre), I developed a pilot project aimed at holistically integrating English writing into the curricula of various science programs.

Over the last decade, a niche passion for science communication has gradually sneaked up on me. As I work toward my PhD in this area, I am slowly steering Hendren Writing in this direction as well.

Education

I am currently working on my PhD at the University of Munich (LMU), in collaboration with the UW-Wisconsin Center for Sleep and Consciousness. Bridging cognitive linguistics and science communication, my research explores ways to better communicate the Integrated Information Theory of consciousness.

I earned my BA in Social Studies from Harvard College, specializing in intellectual history and social theory. My bachelor's thesis on the German Frankfurt School of philosophy received summa cum laude marks and was awarded the Thomas T. Hoopes Prize for distinguished scholarship.

My MA in English Studies at LMU focused on cognitive linguistics and 18th century political literature. I was awarded highest marks for my master's thesis on liberalism in the Age of Revolutions.

A bit about me

Originally from Boston, I grew up in Northern California and Virginia. I travel any chance I get and have lived in Singapore, Venezuela, Cuba, and now Germany. I speak fluent Spanish and German, which greatly aids me in consulting non-native English speakers. I am an avid musician and athlete, and especially enjoy the outdoors.

Publications

Hendren, J., Grasso, M., Juel, B.E., Tononi, G. Integrated Information Theory Wiki: Consciousness & Intrinsic Otology. Center for Sleep and Consciousness UW–Madison.
https://www.iit.wiki (https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.14160283)

Ellia, F., Hendren, J., Grasso, M., Kozma, C., Mindt, G., P. Lang, J., M. Haun, A., Albantakis, L., Boly, M. and Tononi, G., (2021). Consciousness and the fallacy of misplaced objectivity. Neuroscience of Consciousness, 2021(2), p.niab032. https://doi.org/10.1093/nc/niab032

Tononi, G., Boly, M., Grasso, M., Hendren, J., Juel, B., Mayner, W.G., Marshall, W. and Koch, C. (2022). IIT, half masked and half disfigured. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 45, E60. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X21001990

Albantakis, L., Barbosa, L., Findlay, G., Grasso, M., Haun, A. M., Marshall, W., Mayner, W.G.P., Zaeemzadeh, A., Boly, M., Juel, B.E., Sasai, S., Fujii, K., David, I., Hendren, J., Lang, J.P., & Tononi, G. (2023). Integrated information theory (IIT) 4.0: formulating the properties of phenomenal existence in physical terms. PLoS Computational Biology, 19(10), e1011465.
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1011465

University Courses Taught

Workshops in Scientific Writing (2012–present)
Lecturer for dozens of PhD and master's cohorts, including the following (complete client list here):

Max Planck Society (numerous institutes across Germany)
Center for Digital Technology & Management (LMU/TUM, Munich)
Elite Network of Bavaria – Human Biology MSc. (LMU Munich)
Executive Education Center – EMBA programs (TUM, Munich)
LEAD Graduate School (U. of Tübingen)

Technical University of Munich (2012–2019)
Lecturer in English and Scientific Writing

Thesis Writers’ Workshop C2 (12X)
Controversial Topics in Science and Technology C1 (8X)
Dissertation Writers’ Workshop C2 – TUM Graduate School (5X)
English for Political Science C1 – Bavarian School of Public Policy (2X)
English Writing for Social Scientists C2 – Munich Center for Tech. in Soc. (1X)
Transatlantic Relations C1 (1X)
Advanced Grammar Review: Tidy Up Your Denglish C1 (1X)

Harvard – Division of Continuing Education (2009–2010)
Teaching Assistant in Writing and Linguistic Anthropology

Language and Culture (Summer 2009, Dr. J. Herron)
Race in the Americas (Fall 2009, Dr. J. Herron)
Writing and Research Methods in the Social Sciences (Jan. 2010, Dr. J. Herron & Dr. M. Baran)

Conferences & Presentations

Forum for Consciousness Research, University of Oslo (Jan. 2020)
Moderation: "Integrated Information Theory: what is it, how did it emerge, and how can we use it?”
European Association for the Teaching of Academic Writing, Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden (Jul. 2019)
Presentation: “The ‘Boost’ Writing Pilot: a WID Trojan Horse”
European Association for the Teaching of Academic Writing, Royal Holloway, UK (Jul. 2017)
Writing Symposium 2016, Technische Universität München (Apr. 2016)
Organizing Team
English Writing Centers Association, Europa-Universität Viadrina (Jul. 2014) Presentation: “Writing Center Challenges at a University of Technology”
Peer-Tutoring-Konferenz, Ruhr-Universität Bochum (Sep. 2013)