#IamDAP: Miriam Ludwigs

Miriam, you have a bachelors degree in business psychology. Now you work at a chair for Additive Manufacturing. How did you end up working for us and what does psychology have to do with administration?

Because I have been working at RWTH University since 2013, I have already been able to get to know many areas of the university work. In the process, I discovered that I’m at my best when it comes to number and figures and thus saw the opportunity to contribute to the still young DAP Chair. I was already impressed by the young, agile and modern way of working. This has not changed until today.

Psychology is therefore important in administration because no workday is like any other and different, especially human, dynamics have to be taken into account here.

As of today, you are in charge of the Shared Services. What exactly are your tasks?

In addition to (project) management, Shared Services also includes marketing and communications. Basically, I see myself as the “handywoman” and I love not knowing exactly what my tasks are, because in addition to standard tasks such as personnel and project administration, new unpredictable tasks come my way every day. Despite the strict guidelines at the university, there were no routine processes at the chair, so we are able to design them in an agile way.

Let’s talk about project management : Before projects start or are completed, it takes several steps. At what point do you come into play?

Ususally I get involved quite early on when it comes to checking the calculated figures or offers from our research assistants. As soon as the project ideas become more solid, I am involved in a close exchange with the research assistants until the final project conclusion.