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Product and Spatial Practices

Unlimited

Contract period

Full-Time (18 Semester hours per week)

Scope

W2 + Allowances

Salary

Summer Term 2027

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Your tasks

In the Product Design programme, you will focus on ‘Product and Spatial Practices’ with current formal and technical developments, communication and design processes in applied design methodology and project work at both the Bachelor's and Master's programmes. You will use of a wide range of digital tools and contemporary production processes.

In addition, you apply fundamental principles of established product design practices, and develop these further following a holistic approach with a strong emphasis on practice-based research.

Using your design expertise, you will enable students to engage equally with the concept of space and its design, staging, communication and appropriation in social, cultural, material, digital and ecological contexts in various forms – both theoretically and practically.

You will initiate and supervise projects in teaching and research in an interdisciplinary context, including cooperative and collaborative projects, help shape the development of the university, and be actively involved in internationalisation and academic self-administration.

This requires a continuous presence at the Potsdam University of Applied Sciences.

Your qualifications

  • You have outstanding artistic and design qualifications, which you should demonstrate in your CV through exhibitions, competitions, conferences, symposia, awards, prizes, publications, reviews or scholarships, for example.
  • You have several years of independent, practical experience in the field of applied spatial, exhibition, furniture, industrial or product design with as broad a skill set as possible, which is demonstrated in your portfolio.
  • You have excellent theoretical and practical knowledge of the central dimensions of product design, including function, construction, configuration, materials and manufacturing, which you also demonstrate in your portfolio.
  • You have the ability to apply and further develop the fundamental principles of classic product design and, ideally, to critically analyse product design as a cultural technique, particularly with regard to design plausibility, technical feasibility, ecological sustainability and social implications. This is also evident in your portfolio.
  • You demonstrate a strong qualification in initiating, activating and transforming the function of material and social spaces – such as spaces for communication, public spaces or so-called third places – through spatial design approaches and socially engaged practices. Please also demonstrate this in your portfolio.
  • You meet the legal requirements for employment in accordance with § 43 of the Brandenburg Higher Education Act. Accordingly, you have a university degree, ideally in a design-related subject, and can demonstrate your pedagogical aptitude through teaching experience in relevant design courses in a university context. You can also demonstrate your particular aptitude for artistic work and special achievements in the application and development of artistic knowledge and methods in at least three years of professional practice, of which at least two years must have been outside the university sector or three years predominantly in cooperation between the university and non-university professional practice.

Beyond that, we would like you to

  • further develop our didactic principle of research-led teaching through specific research and transfer formats that are interlinked with teaching,
  • be open to developing digital teaching formats and courses in English,
  • participate in interdisciplinary courses,
  • further develop our regional and international cooperation in teaching, research and practice,
  • have passion and resilience for teaching, research, transfer, academic self-administration and inclusive departmental development,
  • have experience in the acquisition of research and practical development projects

Our offer

  • You can look forward to working with colleagues who are highly motivated to collaborate and students who are very interested in project work.
  • You will have access to modern laboratories and workshops (wood and metal workshops, model-making workshops, workshops for digital model-making and new technologies, textile labs, computer labs, multimedia and video labs, graphics labs, photo studios, etc.) as well as a state-of-the-art digital infrastructure for teaching and research.
  • You can expect a lively campus with a canteen in a beautiful location near the city centre.
  • We promote the compatibility of family and career through counselling services, childcare, holiday camps and much more.
  • The campus is easily accessible by public transport. Wesupport your mobility with a company ticket and free parking.

Appointment as a civil servant is possible, provided you meet the requirements for civil servant status.
Please note that in accordance with § 3a of the State Civil Service Act, an enquiry is made with the constitution protection authority in accordance with § 2 passage 1 of the Brandenburg Constitution Protection Act (‘Regelanfrage’) prior to final recruitment and appointment to a probationary, temporary or permanent civil servant position in the State of Brandenburg. Information on the admissibility and procedure of the regular enquiry can be found here.

Information on the formal requirements of the Brandenburg University Act can be found on the FHP website and information on the "W" salaries on the website of the Brandenburg central pay office.

Your application

Please submit your application and all of the following documents by 16 November 2025 exclusively via our **online application portal**:

  • Curriculum vitae (including evidence of professional and teaching experience, ideally with evaluation results, transcripts, list of publications). Your particular aptitude for artistic and creative work should be evident in your CV, for example through participation in exhibitions, competitions, conferences, symposia, or through awards, prizes, publications, reviews or scholarships.
  • A portfolio of your artistic and creative work, in which you clearly demonstrate your qualities and skills as a designer through the results of your professional practice and your international and interdisciplinary networking, and showcase your particular artistic and creative achievements.·
  • An additional portfolio with meaningful examples of your previous teaching activities, which you should supplement with a teaching concept for the subject area ‘Product and Spatial Practices’ in the Product Design programme (max. 2 pages) and an exemplary course description in the Product Design programme for a cross-year study section (1st to 3rd semester), in which you outline the course content and your didactic and methodological ideas (max. 2 pages).
  • A research concept (max. 2 pages).

In addition, please name three to four references that the appointment committee can contact.

The University of Applied Sciences Potsdam is committed to diversity of perspectives and equal opportunities and strives for a balanced gender ratio in all areas. Therefore, we will give preference to women in areas in which they are underrepresented, if they are equally qualified and capable.

We expressly invite people with a migration history to apply and are also looking forward to applications from abroad. Please note that our teaching is in German or English.

Applications from severely handicapped persons will be given preferential consideration in the case of equal aptitude and ability. Please indicate any disability in your application.

Area

Social and Education Sciences

CITY | BUILDING | CULTURE

Civil Engineering

Design

Information Sciences

Service Areas



University of Applied Sciences Potsdam

Innovative, future-oriented and practical: We are working on Area shaping the world of tomorrow Social and Educational Sciences in teaching, practice and research. In the five departments of Social and Educational

Sciences, Service Areas. CITY | BUILDING | CULTURE, Civil Engineering, Design and Information Sciences more than 3,600 students study and research. Our three strategic profile lines address societal challenges and pose questions about the future across all subject areas. Together with our partners in the science region of Berlin-Brandenburg as well as in Germany and abroad, we develop ideas and innovative solutions for this purpose.

We want our university to reflect the diversity of society and are committed to equal opportunities and equal participation in working life.

Contact

If you have any questions regarding the content, please contact:

Prof. Silvia Knüppel (Chair of the Appointments Committee)
silvia.knueppel@fh-potsdam.de

Reference number: B06.25

Application deadline: 16 November 2025