Dr. Victoria Berg

Dr. Victoria Berg studied industrial engineering at KIT and completed her doctorate at Heinrich Heine University in Düsseldorf. During her studies, she gained international internship and study experience and led a research project on start-ups in Chile. As a post-doc, she teaches at HHU Düsseldorf, the University of St. Gallen and Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok. Her research focuses on innovation, leadership and personal development, which she puts into practice in her work as an executive consultant and founder of 8forward.

What valuable experiences and insights from your studies still shape you today?

In addition to a really good education and lectures and exercises, some of which are still very present in my mind, three elements (in addition to the technical content) still shape me today:

Friendship - I was able to get to know role models at KIT, make friends and thus build real relationships that I still benefit from today.

Abroad - Thanks to KIT's good international network, I had the opportunity to study and work in a wide variety of countries - from San Diego in the USA to Santiago in Chile! This time was particularly formative for me and would not have been possible without the framework provided by KIT.

Conscious questioning - If there is one thing I learned at KIT, it was to grasp and understand a lot of complex knowledge in a short space of time. I think I developed my curiosity about "why things are the way they are" at KIT, and it still drives me in my research and work today.

What added value do you get from being a member of the alumni network?

For me, the added value of the alumni network, apart from the opportunity to give back, consists of the following three components:

Networking - The network is a great way to stay in touch with fellow alumni beyond your studies - and even make new contacts.

Role models - The network has many great role models and helps to make them visible in the long term - and to take inspiration from them!

Inspiration - The network is bursting with inspiration - be it through the latest projects at KIT, people who are reported on, or the latest research findings, which are also made visible through the network.

Overall, studying is an enormously formative time, so I am always happy to stay in touch with this special time through the network.

What is your vision for KIT?

In the future, KIT will continue to distinguish itself for its good research and top-level teaching. For me, KIT will continue to stand (even more) for building bridges between research and practice with direct contacts to the German economy - so that in future the transfer from research to practice will be even more successful, faster and better, and research will be future-oriented for practice. And who knows, maybe one day I will be able to make my own contribution to this at KIT.