Dr. Peter Klein

Dr. Peter Klein

I help research reach the people it is meant for.

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About

Profile

Focus, experience and professional positioning at a glance

Specialization

Digital transformation in regulated, complex domains.

  • Public Administration & Smart Cities
  • Healthcare & Care (AAL, Telemedicine)
  • Automotive & Industry 4.0
  • Smart Home & IoT

Current Roles

Head of Technology Transfer
CISPA Helmholtz Center for Information Security

Co-owner (Shareholder)
uCORE Systems GmbH

  • Transferring research results into practice
  • Partnerships with industry & public sector
  • Supporting spin-offs
  • Strategic guidance for uCORE Systems

Academic Background

Dr. rer. nat.
Computer Science / Information Science

  • 50+ peer-reviewed publications
  • Teaching assignments at 10+ universities
  • Reviewer & advisor for research projects
  • Presentations at international conferences
View projects Publications
Principles

What I stand for

Principles that visibly improve collaboration and outcome quality

Pragmatism & Feasibility

  • Scientifically grounded – without academic self-indulgence
  • Feasible – aligned with team, budget, timeline and tech stack
  • Decidable – clear priorities instead of endless option spaces
Result: Realistic roadmaps instead of castles in the air

Human-centered design

  • Context over opinion – real usage beats gut feeling
  • Reduce barriers – clarity, learnability, error tolerance
  • Ensure adoption – design as a lever for adoption
Result: Acceptance and adoption instead of resistance

Long-term partnerships

  • Capability building – knowledge stays in the team, not with the consultant
  • Transparency – decisions, trade-offs, rationales
  • Sustainability – processes & structures that work without me
Result: Capability building instead of dependency
"The best strategy is the one your team can continue without me. My goal is to make myself unnecessary." – Dr. Peter Klein

How I work

A structured, transparent process – from analysis to implementation

1

Understand first, then act

No off-the-shelf solutions. I start with in-depth analysis: stakeholder interviews, user research and system understanding – only then are strategies developed.

  • Contextual inquiry & user research
  • Jobs-to-be-Done framework
  • Stakeholder mapping
Result: Make informed decisions instead of gut feeling
2

Iterative & data-driven

Build, measure, learn – in fast cycles. Prototyping, testing and validation replace assumptions with verifiable insights.

  • Lean UX & design sprints
  • A/B testing & analytics
  • Usability testing (formative & summative)
Result: Validated solutions instead of assumptions
3

Interdisciplinary & collaborative

The best solutions are created as a team. I bring developers, designers, product managers and subject matter experts together and facilitate constructive collaboration.

  • Building cross-functional teams
  • Coaching & mentoring
  • Workshops & design thinking sessions
Result: Sustainable change instead of consultant dependency
4

Technically proficient

I speak the language of developers. I can realistically assess architectural decisions, API design and performance optimization.

  • Full-stack development (web & backend)
  • DevOps & CI/CD pipelines
  • Design systems & component libraries
Result: Implementable designs instead of “pixel-perfect mockups”

Methods & Frameworks (Selection)

Design Thinking Jobs-to-be-Done Scrum & Kanban Lean UX Service Design User Story Mapping Usability Testing A/B Testing Design Systems DevOps & CI/CD OKRs & KPIs Stakeholder Management

Selected Projects

Examples from complex, regulated and real-world domains

SmartHome Award 2024

Award: Best German AAL Project.
Led UI development for an AI-powered Active Assisted Living system including situation recognition, sensor integration, automated billing and emergency call. Managed interdisciplinary teams.

Results:
  • Best project in Germany
  • Productive use in multiple facilities
  • AI-driven process optimization for caregivers
AAL AI Care Smart Home

eGovernment & Smart City

Design, implementation and improvement of digital mobility and planning systems used reliably by municipal employees and external stakeholders.

Results:
  • Improved usability & acceptance
  • Fewer media discontinuities in planning processes
  • Proven better usability of complex systems
OZG Digitalization Smart City

Medical Technology & FDA Approval

Human Factors Engineering for medical devices according to IEC 62366 and FDA guidelines. Formative & summative usability studies as well as risk management.

Results:
  • Successful FDA approval
  • Significant reduction of use errors
  • Full IEC-62366 compliance
IEC 62366 FDA Usability Engineering

Automotive Driver Testing & Field Research

Accompanying field research during real driving tests with ETAS engineers. Contextual inquiry during operation of test and measurement systems in vehicles on closed test tracks.

Results:
  • Conceptual recommendations from real-world use
  • Reduction of unnecessary interaction steps
  • Improved alignment of process & interface
HMI Automotive ISO 26262
View all projects

Teaching & Knowledge Transfer

Sharing knowledge is part of my DNA – in academic teaching as well as corporate training.

Academic Teaching

Teaching assignments at more than ten universities – from fundamentals to advanced topics in HCI, UX and cognitive science.

Cooperations (selection):
  • Hochschule Bielefeld – Prof. Dr. Kerstin Müller
  • Hochschule Reutlingen – Prof. Dr. Gabriela Tullius
  • Beuth Hochschule Berlin – Ilse Schmiedeke
  • HS Magdeburg-Stendal – Prof. Steffi Hublien
  • Hochschule Heilbronn – Prof. Dr. Gerrit Meixner
  • DHBW Baden-Württemberg – Prof. Dr. Carmen Winter

Corporate Training

Tailored workshops for companies – from UX basics to specialized topics such as design systems or usability testing according to IEC 62366.

Popular topics:
  • UX fundamentals for product teams
  • Design thinking in practice
  • User research & usability testing
  • Developing & scaling design systems
  • IEC 62366 & human factors
  • Agile UX in Scrum teams

Talks & Conferences

Regular presentations at specialist conferences on UX, digitalization, human factors and interdisciplinary product development.

  • German AAL Congress (2019–2024)
  • OOP Conference Munich
  • GI Salzburg Conference
  • IEEE Professional Communication Conference
"Our job is not to prepare students for something. Our job is to prepare them to be ready for anything." – A. J. Juliani
Personal

Beyond work

3D archery – and a digital ecosystem for it

In my spare time you will find me on 3D archery courses in the Saarland. Together with fellow archers who also write code, I am building bowhuman.eu: a hobby project that is free, tracking-free, works offline and follows the IFAA standard. Human-centered and private by design, just like my work.

  • littlejohn – maps new courses using GPS, inclinometer and camera
  • sherwood – community for archers, clubs and course operators
  • robin – digital scorekeeper for iOS and Android
  • marian – analysis suite for sessions, archer and equipment
  • nottingham – live tournament management with real-time rankings
robinScoring marianAnalysis suite nottinghamTournament sherwoodCommunity littlejohnMapping

One ecosystem. By archers, for archers.

Contact

For questions about research, teaching or talks, feel free to write to me.

Concrete examples of my work can be found in the selected projects.

Get in touch