Technical University of Munich (TUM)

Brief description

The Technical University of Munich (TUM) is highly experienced in leading the evaluation of policy impacts as well as scientific evaluations. The national project management for PISA 2012, 2015 and 2018 is located at the TUM and make up part of a network of three research institutions in Germany: TUM School of Education (HAND in HAND project partner), IPN in Kiel and DIPF in Frankfurt (HAND in HAND project partner). These three institutions form the Centre for International Student Assessment (ZIB). The TUM School of Education was founded in 2009 and was Germany’s first institution to specialise in teacher education within a university. Currently, the Faculty has some 1,200 students engaged in teacher training, as well as numerous staff in the 18 chairs and departments.

Partner’s role in the project

The TUM’s prime responsibility lies in the HAND in HAND assessment where it will review existing measures for social emotional and intercultural competencies and prepare HAND in HAND assessment tools (all in collaboration with other partners). The TUM will be the partner of Germany’s delegated institution, DIPF, and contribute to the work package entailing evaluation (led by DIPF). The TUM will also collaborate closely with other partners in their work packages and be in charge of the HAND in HAND policy experimentation in Germany.

Staff members involved in the project

Christine Sälzer

She holds a PhD in Educational Research and is a lecturer at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and has been the National Project Manager of PISA since 2010. She graduated from Fribourg University (Switzerland) and completed her PhD on student absenteeism from school. Christine continued her research by focusing on educational monitoring and pedagogical challenges of schools, and finished her habilitation in this field in 2016. Christine is Germany’s member of the Hand in Hand managerial board and currently works on establishing networks to communicate evidence from educational research to different recipients in the public and policy sector.

Albert Denk

Albert Denk is a research associate at the Technische Universität München (TUM), a PhD candidate at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (LMU), as well as a research supervisor at Refugees Welcome. At the TUM’s School of Education, he is part of the national Hand in Hand team. Before, he worked as a research assistant for the Centre for International Student Assessment at the TUM. In his doctoral thesis, he is focusing on the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). At Refugees Welcome, he is supervising research projects on migration issues. He previously studied at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales Buenos Aires, Jawaharlal Nehru University New-Delhi, Universitat de Barcelona, Hochschule München, and worked on several projects abroad. Moreover, he is member of the Academic Council on the United Nations System, the United Nations Association of Germany and, therein, part of the “Young UN Research” working group.

Fabian Müller

Fabian Müller is a research associate at the Technische Universität München (TUM) and part of the national Hand in Hand team. He is well experienced in several intercultural projects at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU), in EU-funded joint projects in Developmental Psychology, as well as at the Centre for International Student Assessment (ZIB) e.V., TUM School of Education, in a cross-cultural project between ROC (Taiwan) and Germany. Previously, he studied Clinical Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience at the LMU and Psychology at Universität Regensburg. His research interests focus on diversity, intersectional discrimination, and sexual identity formation. Further, he is involved in social work on asylum issues for gay, bisexual and trans* refugees at the Refugees@Sub programme in Munich. He is member of the VLSP e.V. (Association for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans*, Intersexual and Queer People in Psychology), which is also a member of the International Psychology Network for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex Issues (IPsyNet).