Dr. Stephanie Müller-Otto

Systemic university and academic counselling from academic practice

I work as a systemic university and science consultant, coach, trainer and facilitator in the science system. My work is aimed at universities, scientific institutions and funding organisations that want to professionally shape development, decision-making and change processes.

I support individuals, groups, projects and organisations at the interfaces of science, teaching, management and organisation - where formal and informal structures, lateral leadership, committee logics and different institutional rationalities meet.

Scientific localisation

As a social scientist with a doctorate in psychology, I worked for several years in research and teaching - at universities and scientific institutions in Germany, the USA and Spain. This academic socialisation still shapes my work today: whether career logics, evaluation regimes or organisational ambivalences of the academic system.

In leading positions at universities, I have taken on responsibility for personnel and university development, continuing education, study programmes and teaching, where I have designed, set up and taken responsibility for structural development processes. For me, the transition to consulting, coaching and further education was not a departure from science, but a consistent further development of scientific practice with a focus on organisation, leadership and interrelationships in the science and higher education system.

Counselling, coaching & further training

My work combines systemic university and academic counselling, coaching, further education/training and moderation. I do not use these formats in isolation, but rather in combination - tailored to the organisation, mission and objectives. I work:

as a consultant in development, strategy and change processes
as a coach for people in responsible roles
as a trainer in science-related further education formats
as a moderator of development, decision-making and reflection processes

The focus is always on the interplay between person, role, organisation and structure.

Professional qualifications & further training

Systemic coach (training as a systemic counsellor and therapist, hsi-heidelberg.com)
Systemic organisational developer ( simon-weber.de )
Further training in psychodynamic therapy (Martin Schulmeister & Konrad Stauss; Wieslocher Institut für systemische Lösungen, wieslocher-institut.com) and hypnosystemic therapy (Gunther Schmidt, Milton Erickson Institut Heidelberg, meihei.de)
Further training as a university didactic multiplier (zhb. Centre for Higher Education, TU Dortmund University) Boxing therapist (trauma-und-sport.de), further training in body-orientated therapy (Martin Schulmeister, Wieslocher Institut für systemische Lösungen, wieslocher- institut.com)
Memberships: German Society for Psychology (dgps.de), Verein Lehre hoch n (lehrehochn-netzwerk.de), FidAR (fidar.de)
Over 10 years managing departments and work areas in the field of academic staff development, learning & development and teaching & learning
Over 10 years of experience as a systemic coach, moderator and trainer

Publications & contributions (selection)

In addition to my practical work, I publish on topics relating to the development of higher education and science. Selected current articles:

Müller-Otto, S. & Szczyrba, B. (2025). Transformative science as a profession. Social Magazine, 57-65.

Müller-Otto, S. (2025, 25 August). Fragile progress. DUZ - Deutsche Universitäts-Zeitung. https://www.duz.de/beitrag/!/id/1763/fragiler-fortschritt

Müller-Otto, S. (2025). In exchange. DUZ Science & Management, 2, 12-23.

Müller-Otto, S. (2024). Leading well-equipped projects: The boundaries between science,

Management and services in universities are becoming increasingly fluid. DUZ Wissenschaft & Management, 7(5), 12-16.

Müller-Otto, S. (2023). The future of teaching. DUZ Science & Management, 9, 18-32.

Cooperation & Network

I realise larger consulting, coaching and training processes in collaboration with a broad network of experienced colleagues from the fields of consulting, coaching, training and science. I have overall responsibility for the concept, structure and quality.

References

References

Please feel free to contact us.

Dr. Stephanie Müller-Otto mail@systemische-hochschulberatung.de