What stands out about your writing workshops?

I use many sample texts from well-known scholars. I do this because we learn best through inspiration, not rules. For example, if I'm teaching a group of natural scientists, we might learn from the writing of Stephen Hawking or Francis Crick, and if it's a business group, the texts might be from Michael Porter or Daniel Kahneman. Over the last decade of teaching, I've gathered about 150 model texts from people who are not just great scholars but also great writers. Learning through inspiration lets insights go deep.

I also emphasize peer workshopping—where participants give and receive feedback on actual texts they're currently working on. This technique is invaluable since writing is a craft, not a set of rules or "soft skills." Participants mature most quickly as writers if they immediatley apply writing principles to a project they personally care about.

Finally, my workshops leave space for lots of dialogue & practice. I spend little time lecturing and rather teach through group discussions, breakout groups, and lots of exercises—for both the brain and the body.

Where have you led workshops?

I have taught dozens of scienfitic writing workshops and courses at many departments of the Technical University of Munich, where I was a lecturer and coordinator of the English Writing Center for several years.

Other institutes where I have taught writing workshops:

Institut Curie (Paris, Lyon)
Mercator Institute for China Studies (Berlin)
LEAD Graduate School (U. of Tübingen)
Zurich University of the Arts (Zurich)
Max Planck Institut for Religious & Ethnic Diversity (Göttingen)
BASF (Lüdwigshafen, Heidelberg)
European Institute of Innovation & Technology – EIT Food (Bilbao)
Wisconsin Institute for Sleep & Consciousness (UW–Madison, USA)
Munich Intellectual Property & Law Center (Munich)
Executive Education Center – EMBA programs (TUM, Munich)
BWL Mentoring – postdoc program (LMU, Munich)
TUM Graduate School (Munich)
Center for Digital Technology & Management (Munich)
Elite Network of Bavaria – Human Biology MSc. (Munich)
ProLehre | Media and Didactics (TUM, Munich)
Graduate School Language & Literature (LMU, Munich)
NEUcrest Training Network (Paris, Europe-wide)
LOCOTACT Collaborative Research Center (Germany-wide)
Baden-Württemberg Center of Applied Research (Stuttgart)
Hochschule Konstanz (HTWG) (Konstanz)
Leibniz University Hannover (Soft Material Robotics) (Hannover) University of Würzburg (RTG 2660) (Würzburg)
Georg-August Universität Göttingen (CRC 1073) (Göttingen)

What topics do you cover in your workshops?

WRITING STYLE

• Writing reader-friendly texts
• Sentence structures that bring your research to life
• Paragraph cohesion and organization
• Concision on micro and macro levels
• Sentence rhythm and shape
• Punctuation for easy reading

THE WRITING PROCESS

• Writing to think
• Overcoming writer’s block
• Enjoying your writing
• Using writing to streamline your reading & research
• Becoming your own editor and proofreader
• Incorporating writing tools (e.g. Grammarly) into your process
• Writing strategies for non-native English speakers

COMMUNICATING YOUR RESEARCH

• Introductions and abstracts that pull readers in
• Reflective and forward-thinking conclusions
• Posing clear research questions and hypotheses
• Situating your research in a literature review
• Turning an article into a presentation

Do you also offer workshops online?

I much prefer to lead live workshops whenever possible since the learning environment is simply more engaging. But I do offer webinars as well, which I try to make as dynamic and interactive as the medium allows for.