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, www.hsi-heidelberg.com)
Systemic organisational developer (further training with Fritz Simon, simon-weber.de, and Metaplan, metaplan.com)
Further training in psychodynamic therapy (Martin Schulmeister and Konrad Stauss; Wiesloch Institute for Systemic Solutions, wieslocher-institut.com) and hypnosystemic therapy (Gunther Schmidt, Milton Erickson Institute Heidelberg, meihei.de)
Further training as a higher education didactics multiplier (Johannes Wildt; zhb. Centre for Higher Education, TU Dortmund)
Further training as a boxing therapist (trauma-und-sport.de) and in body-oriented therapy (Martin Schulmeister, Wiesloch Institute for Systemic Solutions, wieslocher-institut.com)
Memberships: German Psychological Society (dgps.de), Lehre hoch n Association (lehrehochn-netzwerk.de), FidAR (fidar.de)
Over 10 years of management experience leading departments in academic staff development, learning & development, as well as degree programmes and teaching
Over 10 years of experience as a systemic coach, consultant, facilitator 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. & Raue, C. (forthcoming). Lehrentwicklung als forschende Praxis. Steiner Verlag.

Müller-Otto, S. (2026). Higher education teaching as organisational development: Impressions from the conference „Agendasetting mit Lehre?!“. OrganisationsEntwicklung, 45(2), 89–90.

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). Gut gerüstet Projekte leiten: Die Grenzen zwischen Wissenschaft, Management und Dienstleistung in Hochschulen werden immer fließender. 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