Prof. Thomas Petzold, Ph.D. (he/him/his) has been Professor of Media Management and Head of the Department of Management & Business Studies at HMKW Berlin since 2013. He has been researching and working in both the private and public sectors for more than 15 years, gaining experience in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region. Petzold works across disciplinary boundaries and is a fan of communicating scientific work in a generally understandable way. The aim of his work is to improve the economic and social well-being of countries and their inhabitants. First insights into his efforts are provided by ...

• his TEDx Talk on the hidden potential for global knowledge dynamics in digital innovation;
• a keynote and book examining the socio-economic reasons for that; and
• the Trust Machines Lab he leads.

Teaching Areas (selection)

• Media and innovation management
• Network Economics | Science
• Entrepreneurship
• Applied Workshop I: Blockchain Ecosystem Building
• Applied workshop II: Implementation of generative AI

Research Areas

Thomas Petzold leads the Trust Machines Lab, which studies and develops trust-verification principles in blockchain ecosystems and AI assistants. More generally, in his research Petzold is fundamentally concerned with innovation capacities that arise from the combination of technological and social change. He is particularly interested in how technological and social innovations interact in increasingly complex networks and thus substantially influence people's lives. His areas of application include cultural and economic complexity, dynamics of information and knowledge diffusion, and the use of network thinking in management and everyday life.

Academic Career

• 2023 | Harvard University, Boston, USA, Executive Program
• 2011 | Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australien, Ph.D.
• 2009 | The University of Oxford, Oxford Internet Institute, SDP
• 2007 | Europa-Universität Viadrina, Frankfurt/Oder, M.Arts.
• 2002 | The Open University, Milton Keynes, Großbritannien, B.Arts.

Academic Community Service

• Reviewer (Selection): New Media and Society (SAGE), Social Science Computer Review (SAGE), Technological Forecasting and Social Change (ELSEVIER)
• International Board Member: Cultural Science Journal

Professional Activity (industry)

• Science & Innovation Lead, Disruptive Elements, Berlin
• Participant Blockchain & AI Hackathons, e.g., Odyssey, Groningen, Niederlande

• Pro bono one-off consultation for pre-startups and startups (Enquiries via LinkedIn)

Professional Activity (science)

• Visiting Scientist, ECRC Experimental and Clinical Research Center, Charité Berlin
• Visiting Professor, European University Viadrina, Frankfurt (Oder)
• Visiting Professor, University of Lucerne, Switzerland.
• Associate Researcher, Curtin University, Perth, Australia
• Associate Researcher, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia
• Postdoctoral Researcher, Social Science Research Centre Berlin and ARC Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and Innovation, Brisbane, Australia
• Visiting Researcher, Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford
• Visiting Researcher, Reuters Institute, University of Oxford
• PhD Student, Lecturer, Research Assistant, ARC Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and Innovation, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia

Co-supervision of doctoral theses (selection)

• Reviewing Digital Transformation, Technical University Berlin
• Complex Networks in Health Communication, Charité University Medicine Berlin
• Music and Brands, University of Music, Drama and Media, Hanover

• Research funds raised: > 0.5 million euros
• Funding (selection) from VW Stiftung; Australian Research Council; German Academic Exchange Service; Australian Government; Private Foundations in Germany

2 books (monograph) | 60 + further peer-reviewed publications

• Knuth, I./Petzold, T./Richter, F. (2022): Who eats up the attention? Analyzing one day of digital news use in Germany - A network analytic approach, European Media Management Association conference, Munich, Germany, 15-17/06/2022.
• Petzold, T./Knuth, I. (2021): Solution-Oriented media management research: a framework to nurture future impact of the field, Journal of Media Business Studies, 19 (4), 240-262.
• Petzold, T (2017) Global knowledge dynamics and social technology, Hampshire & New York: Palgrave MacMillan. (Book endorsed by Prof. Albert-László Barabási, Director Center of Complex Network Research | Barabási Lab, Boston) 
• Petzold, T (2015) Human-Algorithmic Scaffolding. In Been, W., & Arora, P. Cross Roads in New Media, Identity and Law: The Shape of Diversity to Come, Palgrave: Hampshire & New York (with other contributions by Saskia Sassen and Julie Cohen).
• Petzold, T, Liao, H, Hartley, J & J Potts (2012) A World Map of Knowledge in the Making: Wikipedia's Inter-Language Linkage as a Dependency Explorer of Global Knowledge Accumulation, Leonardo: Art, Science and Technology 45(3).
• Petzold, T (2008) Gewalt in internationalen Fernsehnachrichten. Eine komparative Analyse medialer Gewaltpräsentation in Großbritannien, Deutschland und Russland, Wiesbaden: Springer VS. (Book Endorsed by Prof. Jean Seaton, Official Historian of the BBC). 

More detailed publication list: Researchgate; other publication platforms; on request.