Designing digital services around people’s needs
What do parents need to arrange around the birth of a child? Drawing on ELFE, I show how services, data and responsibilities can be organised around parents’ needs.
Talks & guest lectures
Talks and teaching on digital government
My talks explain how technology, organisations and leadership interact. I cover digital public services, lessons from successful and difficult projects, and decision-making at the intersection of politics and administration. The topics and level of detail are tailored to your audience.
Talks and seminars
Topics for your event.
Why digital transformation projects progress or stall
The brief, responsibilities, resources and decisions: which questions need early answers? Practical examples and lessons for your own project work.
Turning a political ambition into a clear project brief
How does a broad intention become a brief that a team can work with? We examine the intended impact, requirements, authority and decisions needed to get there.
Leadership between politics and administration
Political expectations, professional responsibility and working with people all come together. A practical perspective on roles, conflicts and decisions in public administration.
Understanding information security and data protection
Core principles and common questions at the intersection of technology, data and organisation. Content is adapted to the group’s existing knowledge and learning goals.
Assessing AI in day-to-day public administration
Where can AI help, and what limits emerge in practice? My own prototypes, such as Kommunalix, provide a basis for discussing concrete tasks, output quality and the handling of data.
Planning
Content and format tailored to your audience.
Options include a short talk, a presentation with discussion or a seminar. We agree what participants should understand and how much time to allow for questions, case studies and exchange.
I adapt the terminology and level of detail to the group, including people who are new to public administration. Contributions are available in English and German.
A talk focuses on sharing knowledge. If your team wants to work on its own project and produce a result together, a workshop is the right starting point.
My background
Government and leadership experience you can draw on.
My examples come from project work and my own leadership roles, including ELFE in Bremen, establishing the family and children’s services programme office, and serving on Lüneburg’s municipal executive.
Explore my professional background
Speaking experience
Selected talks and practical contributions.
Lessons from the ELFE project
Together with Dirk Caliebe and Carola Heilemann-Jeschke, I presented lessons from ELFE: how can family benefits be designed around parents’ needs, and what does this require of law, technology and organisation?
Talk and recording (German)ELFE and a shared digital service
A joint presentation with Dr Brigitte Klamroth on ELFE and Hamburg’s service to simplify child benefit applications. We showed how the approaches from Bremen and Hamburg could be brought together in a digital service for use across federal states.
Conference programme (German PDF)Digital services for families
In the session on ELFE, parent apps and related services, I shared experience from ELFE and discussed how digital services can make it easier for families to access support. A particular focus was the different needs of families.
Session and slides (German)Publication
Sharing experience in writing, too.
Journal article · 2021
Digital family benefits: the ELFE project in Bremen
My article on ELFE appeared in Archiv für Wissenschaft und Praxis der sozialen Arbeit, vol. 52, issue 4/2021, pp. 50–57.
Conferences and international events
Further talks and welcome addresses.
Further speaking contributions have taken me to Berlin and Barcelona, as well as international online events. These include English-language talks on digital services for parents.
Explore further contributions from 2019–2022
Modern government: new life in a digital Berlin, from birth to starting school
Alliance 90/The Greens parliamentary group in the Berlin House of Representatives · Berlin
Digital services in one go – ELFE & Co.
Forum on Financial Benefits for Families and Children · Berlin
Digital Government in Action
Gartner IT Symposium/Xpo · Barcelona
The Online Access Act made simple – the ELFE example
8th AusweisApp2 Provider Forum · Berlin
Bremen’s path towards Government 4.0 (ELFE)
Digital Week Leer · online
Life Events in Government – Bremen – Simple Services for Parents
Foro Sector Público · online
ELFE – family benefits through a single service
NØRD Digitalisation Congress · online
Lessons from the ELFE project
Forum on Financial Benefits for Families and Children · presentation with Dr Benjamin Schulte
View the presentation (German PDF)Welcome address as Lüneburg’s municipal executive responsible for social services
Lüneburg Schools Congress · Leuphana University Lüneburg
Schools congress review (German)
Universities and practical learning
Teaching and continuing education.
Making complex subjects understandable is part of my work. In university teaching and continuing education, I connect technical and organisational principles with examples from public administration.
HAW Hamburg
Continuing education lecturer
Digital Transformation in Public Administration
Why digital change projects succeed or fail: lessons from practice
Practical lessons from the successes and difficulties of digital transformation projects, with examples of clarifying the brief, assigning responsibility and implementation.
HAW Hamburg course information (German)Jacobs University Bremen
Now Constructor University
Teaching contributions in English
Current Topics and Applications in Data Science
Digital public services from a user’s perspective, consent-based data exchange and the Once-Only principle of avoiding repeated requests for information already provided. These sessions took place at Jacobs University, as it was then known.
FHöV NRW · University of Applied Sciences for Public Administration
Lecturer
Information Management
Requirements analysis, process and data models, SQL, data protection and data security. Core concepts combined with practical exercises.
FOM Hochschule Bremen
Lecturer · BSc programme in Business Information Systems
Information Security & Data Protection
Designing and delivering classes, including exam preparation.
I also bring teaching experience from my work as a research associate in the Programming Systems group at FernUniversität in Hagen.
Talks and teaching
Questions about booking.
Can you include our topic or a project of our own?
Yes. Tell me about the occasion and what participants should take away. We adapt the content, examples and opportunities for participation accordingly.
Are your talks suitable for people new to public administration?
Yes. I explain public-sector terminology and context where the group needs it. We discuss participants’ existing knowledge during preparation.
Can universities request a teaching contribution?
Yes. For a guest lecture or a defined teaching contribution, we agree the learning goals, degree programme, language and duration. Exercises and materials can be included in the scope.
Are materials available for participants?
We agree in advance which materials are included and when they will be provided. These might be the presentation, a summary or an exercise.
What do you need to prepare a proposal?
The occasion, preferred topic, audience, number of participants, date and duration, plus the location or online format. If the topic is still open, we start with the intended learning outcome.
What question should your talk answer?
Tell me about the occasion, audience and time available. I will suggest suitable content and a format, then prepare a proposal.
My portfolio