Skills and Certificates

Due to my diverse professional experience, my skills can be assigned to a variety of different categories. Browse through them, or jump directly to:

Data Science

During my PhD, I took a deep dive into the world of data science. This came natural to me, as I already had previous experience in coding from my web development days. However, I learned quite a lot about how to deal with data, including how to:

  • retrieve and filter data from databases or dataframes
  • clean, filter and transform data
  • export acoustic information from annotated audio files
  • statistically analyze data using different models and techniques, e.g. linear mixed effects regression modelling
  • visualize data

Most of these were accomplished using R and R packages (e.g. dplyr, ggplot, lme4, etc.), SQL, and Python. I am eager to expand my skills on data science in regards to natural language processing and machine learning, especially using Python, and I'm currently learning to use the Python packages pandas, spaCy and plotnine.

  • R
  • linear models
  • data visualization
  • ggplot
  • dplyr
  • SQL
  • Tableau
  • PowerBI
  • Python
  • pandas
  • regression
  • AI

Show 11 Certifications in Data Science, AI & Coding

Conversational AI & Natural Language Processing

  • design of conversational flows for chatbots using Cognigy.AI
  • optimization of text in web applications and chatbots according to stateof- the-art usability standards and conversational language
  • user research for chatbots
  • cognigy
  • conversational ai
  • chatbots
  • Python
  • spaCy

Linguistics

  • expert knowledge of phonetics and morphology, as well as excellent knowledge of other linguistic subfields
  • linguistic annotation (part of speech tagging, morphological structure)
  • acoustic analysis, e.g. using spectrograms
  • phonetic transcription
  • foundations of forensic linguistics
  • praat
  • spectrograms
  • phonetics
  • morphology

Languages

I speak a number of different languages to various degrees of fluency, as listed in the table below. In addition, I have structural, and in some cases limited vocabulary knowledge of Mandarin, Serbo-Croatian, Hebrew, Old English and Middle English.

Level Language
Native/Fluent German, English
Intermediate Swedish
Basic French, Spanish

Show 5 Certifications in Conversational AI & Language
  • Conversation Design, Cognigy Academy (02/2023)
  • Cognigy.AI Foundation, Cognigy Academy (02/2023)
  • Cognigy.AI Developer, Cognigy Academy (02/2023)
  • Computational Modelling for Linguistics with Python, Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf (10/2022 - 02/2023)
  • Forensic Linguistics, DivLing e.V. (08/2022)

Research & Writing

After over 10 years in academia, I have become a very skilled researcher and acquired many skills that transcend to many areas of my life. These include:

  • observing and identifying patterns and potential problems
  • formulating research questions and hypotheses from observed problems or patterns
  • design of experiments
  • data science, quantitative analysis, data visualization and interpretation (see the section on data science above)
  • writing texts in a variety of genres (academic writing, technical writing, etc.)
  • quantitive research
  • academic writing
  • design of experiments
  • teaching

UX Research

I also have experience in conducting user experience research outside of academia:

  • designing and conducting user interviews and usability tests (with a focus on chatbots)
  • analyzing qualitative research
  • qualitative research
  • user interviews
  • usability testing

Show 5 Certifications in UX Research

Media design and development

From 2005 to 2011, I worked as a professional media designer and web developer. Though the world of web development has changed dramatically, I still have a high affinity to web and media design. Having studied these fields extensively, I have a professional understanding of:

  • layouting and presenting data and information, both online and offline
  • user-centered design approaches
  • graphical manipulation in Adobe Photoshop
  • coding in HTML/CSS/JS
  • deployment and usage of content management systems
  • layout
  • InDesign
  • Photoshop
  • Figma
  • HTML
  • CSS
  • PHP
  • UX
  • user centered design
  • design thinking

Soft Skills and Other Skills

  • I am a maker and when I see things that need to get done, often take it upon myself to manage and complete these projects. This characteristic transcends to many aspects of my professional and personal life. For example, in my free time, I sometimes like to create player aids for board games in InDesign, because I feel like players will benefit from those.
  • I am a team player - I worked with many different teams, both as a team leader (leading a group of student assistant on annotation tasks) and as a team member (being part of a larger research unit).
  • I am a very helpful person, and have a gift of recognizing when people are in need of support.
  • I am skilled at teaching and presenting complex content to learners, as well as to equals and superiors.
  • I am a very quick learner, and I acquired most of my coding and data science skills "learning by doing".
  • presentations
  • creativity
  • attention to detail
  • self-learning
  • teamwork
  • project management
  • communication

Show 4 Certifications in Project Management
  • Project Management for Conversational AI, Cognigy Academy (02/2023)
  • PRINCE2 Foundation, PeopleCert (12/2022)
  • Intercultural Competence, Heinrich-Heine-Universität (09/2014)
  • Diversity Management, Heinrich-Heine-Universität (08/2014)