Press release
Prof Dr Karsten Krauskopf is to Become Vice-President for Research and Transfer at the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam
On the 1st of October, Prof Dr Karsten Krauskopf will succeed Prof Dr-Ing Peter Heisig as Vice-President for Research and Transfer. Krauskopf’s term of office will see the implementation of the recently granted right to award doctorates for universities of applied sciences in Brandenburg. He attaches particular importance to safeguarding academic communities and creating space for collaborative, innovative thinking.
The Vice-President for Research and Transfer is responsible for raising the profile of the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam in the field of research and development, including the support of early-career researchers and academic career paths. This is complemented by the coordination of the university’s ‘third mission’ activities, such as knowledge and technology transfer and start-ups.
„One of our great strengths is the openness with which new connections are forged here,” says Karsten Krauskopf. „When colleagues discover that they are working on related issues from different perspectives, a sense of common purpose quickly emerges. I see creating the right environment for this as an important part of my role. At the same time, I want to bring together established and emerging lines of research so that we gain a clearer sense of direction internally and make it clearer to the outside world what research at the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam stands for. For me, knowledge and technology transfer is an integral part of this: new questions – and often new research – arise through engagement with professional practice, society, culture, Administration and industry.“
This is particularly evident in the case of the right to award doctorates. In August 2026, the Doctoral College of Brandenburg’s universities of applied sciences was granted the right to award doctorates. The University of Applied Sciences Potsdam is one of the four member institutions.
„This is the result of more than ten years’ work by many colleagues at the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam and the other Brandenburg universities of applied sciences,“ said Krauskopf. „Now the baton has been passed to us: we want to turn this into a vibrant culture for early-career researchers. Especially at a time when scholarship and expertise are under pressure to justify themselves, it is important to strengthen and protect such spaces.“
About the Person
Prof Dr Karsten Krauskopf holds a degree in psychology and has been Professor of Psychology in Social Work at the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam since April 2020. He heads the Family Centre at the university and was a member of the University Senate until his election to his new post. Prior to this, he was the research coordinator for the „Inclusion and Heterogeneity“’ research focus within the BMBF project PSI-Potsdam and a research assistant at the University of Potsdam. He studied psychology and Japanese studies at the Humboldt University of Berlin and was awarded his PhD in 2012 from the Leibniz Institute for Knowledge Media and the Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen. His research focuses on multi-professional cooperation in educational contexts, the social-emotional skills of educational professionals, teaching and learning with digital tools, and professional development in early years education.
