flurFHunk - The podcast of the Fachhochschule Dortmund

The earth is getting warmer and that is bad for us humans - this realization has now become generally accepted. But what can we do? Does it really make a difference what I eat, how much I heat, buy, bathe, drive or fly?

The climate protection managers at Fachhochschule Dortmund, Dorothee Albrecht and Karen Isabell Müller, can tell you pretty precisely what makes a difference and how much. They list a whole range of things that are actually quite easy to implement and quantify the impact on your personal carbon footprint - so that everyone can judge for themselves whether it's worth making the switch!

Note: At 4:50, we talk about bananas that have grown straight or crooked. That was a slip of the tongue, I meant cucumbers :)

Why do 20 FH employees get into a narrow boat and paddle like there's no tomorrow? Because it's endless fun, say Christina Schönberger and Jonas Jagdziewski. And there are a few more reasons - they tell us about them in the podcast.

The starting gun goes off, 18 paddles pierce the surface of Lake Phoenix and for the next minute and a half, the dragon boat disappears in a wet mess of spray and screaming until it finally glides across the finish line first: That's how it was in 2023 and that's how it should be again this year, on Sunday, August 25.

Since this season, Christina Schönberger and Jonas Jagdziewski have been wearing the captain's hat, taking over from Michael Walter, who led the Fachhochschule Dortmund dragon boat team for a decade. The two newcomers have already been on the paddle themselves and have experienced the special flair of this event, the thrill of the competition, the team spirit, the cheering spectators, the celebration after the race, all the things that make the dragon boat race one big party.

In flurFHunk, they describe their personal view of training and competition and how surprisingly quickly colleagues who know each other more or less well grow together to form a boat crew whose paddles and hearts beat in unison. Anyone who wants to take part will also find out what you need and what you don't need, why clapping is part of training and who is the only person in the boat who can really see anything during the race.

Svenja Stepper  has headed the administration of Fachhochschule Dortmund as Chancellor since July 2023. In the podcast, she talks about talking and listening, about churches and cherries, about her start and her goals, about typical UAS moments and about people who are younger and more feminine than expected.

At the age of 22, straight after graduating, Svenja Stepper took on her first management position as head of committee work in the Düsseldorf church district. Alongside her job, she continued her studies and now holds degrees in administrative science, personnel development, business administration and management and is currently studying for a certificate in digital management.

Born in Hildesheim, she had headed the administration of the Duisburg church district since 2018 before being elected Chancellor unanimously by the Fachhochschule Dortmund University of Applied Sciences and Arts in April 2023.

Additions to the podcast conversation:

- The ten Fachhochschule Dortmund campuses are: (1) Campus Sonnenstraße, (2) Campus Emil-Figge-Straße, (3) Campus Max-Ophüls-Platz, (4) Hochschule vor Ort, (5) IDiAL, (6) SQuArE Makerspace, (7) storyLab kiU, (8) Hohe Straße, (9) Joseph-von-Fraunhofer-Straße, (10) LaSiSe Selm.

- Click here for the article on the common good balance sheet(Opens in a new tab) , which we mention in the podcast.

Even as an intern, Mario Tiller worked at the 2006 World Cup, the "summer fairytale" in Germany. Other major events followed. Since 2019, Mario has been putting his talent to work for Fachhochschule Dortmund, organizing SommerFHeste, first-year welcome events and annual academic celebrations.

In the podcast, Mario Tiller talks about what happens behind the scenes before, during and after such events - and what shouldn't happen - and describes his best and trickiest organizational moments.

He also tells us what we need to know about his other areas of responsibility: the Fachhochschule Dortmund store(Opens in a new tab) store(Opens in a new tab)  and the web2print service.

Nicki Minaj, Kendrick Lamar and Cardi B. are particularly appreciated by Sina Nitzsche - not only as a fan, but also as a researcher. In this episode, the researcher explains why hip-hop is much more than just music and what else is involved.

You can find all the artists and songs discussed in the"flurFHunk Hip-Hop Beats(Opens in a new tab) " playlist on Spotify.

Dr. Sina Nitzsche is a cultural scientist specializing in American Studies. She founded the Hip-Hop Studies Network in 2018 and has published many books on hip-hop culture. We talk about the music and its stories, about breaking and graffiti and about the black perspective.

We also talk about Sina Nitzsche's work at Fachhochschule Dortmund, where she works in the Institute for Higher Education Didactics on innovative teaching.

Noise and stress, screwing until late into the night, team spirit, a spirit of helpfulness among the teams, extremely strict race approval tests and wonderful parties with students from all over the world - that is the adventurous reality at the Formula Student Germany (FSG) racing events. To take part, the Fachhochschule Dortmund's "Race-Ing. Team" builds a new racing car every year and meets a strict set of regulations.

This year, the team's hard work was crowned with success: newly appointed team manager Zeliha Alak and Daniel Jovanovic, head of the engine department, report on the minor setbacks and major achievements of the recently completed season and reveal why it sometimes has to be said: He who brakes, wins.
They describe the team's work and explain why they are looking for students from all faculties. And they answer the question of why they give so much of their time and energy to the team - and why they are passionate about it.

Note I: In this episode, Ines goes on maternity leave and Jana introduces herself: She will be co-hosting the upcoming episodes with Tilman in Ines' place.

Note II is a heads-up: Tilman is a big fan of the Race-Ing. team and may get carried away by his enthusiasm at one point or another.

"I can tell when a moment is good. I can almost feel it physically: when do I leave the camera behind - and when is the opportunity?"

As a photographer, Jörg Winde provides unique insights, for example into the faces of people on Tehran's longest street (20 kilometers) - and into the offices of German mayors.
As a professor and international representative, he provides many students with unique experiences when traveling to other countries.

Portraits from Jörg Winde's book: "ValiAsr - Faces of a street in Tehran":

For the Fachhochschule Dortmund design professor, the one and the other merge organically.

The rooms of the mayors of Dortmund, Husum, Schwäbisch Hall and Görlitz (from left):

Loving, attentive and determined: In the podcast, Jörg Winde talks about his approach to photography and the university, to people and to the world.

What is the difference between people in general and students from Iran and Germany in particular? Why do students from some cities not want to come to Dortmund - while many others are very happy to come? He talks about this and much more in this episode.

Martin Hübner and Frank Strothkamp know the rooms, corridors, basements and roofs of Fachhochschule Dortmund inside out. As Head of Facility Management and Head of Technical Building Management, this is part of their job.

They describe the technology and the atmosphere in ten rooms that hardly anyone working at Fachhochschule Dortmund ever gets to see. One is so dangerous that even the head of department prefers to stay outside. Another tells of the horrors of war. A third swallows every noise and "just lets your voice drop" and a fourth offers a phenomenal view.

Incidentally, it also clarifies what people do in facility management. Without spoiling anything, the answer is that the employees of Fachhochschule Dortmund would not want to do without it.

And here's the answer to the question that comes up in conversation: Fachhochschule Dortmund has pretty much 3,000 rooms.

As a primary school pupil, she found books on ancient Greek and Hebrew and simply started reading. In the meantime, she has not only learned ten languages, but also a lot about the world and about learning itself. And about the languages in TV series.

We talk to her about Hawaiian rain, the Indonesian landscape, French curses, Japanese words with German origins and why every new language opens up a completely different perspective on the whole world.

Anne Klapal corrected one detail after the recording: The Hebrew alphabet does not consist of 24 letters, but 22.

Anne Klapal is head of the helpdesk team at Fachhochschule Dortmund's university IT department.

Professor Alessandro Fortino knows what needs to be done to ensure that electric cars not only hum quietly, but also sound powerful, fun and future-oriented. In this episode, he explains how.

Prof. Dr. Alessandro Fortino has been at Fachhochschule Dortmund since the end of 2021. He previously worked for a German sports car manufacturer, where he helped develop the acoustics of an electric model, among other things. He now holds the newly established Chair of Acoustics at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, where he offers an elective subject that is unique at German universities: Active Sound Design in cooperation with the Faculty of Design.

Prof. Fortino explains what this is and how it works in the podcast - and he has brought along brand new recordings of e-car sounds that were developed at Fachhochschule Dortmund.

Prof. Fortino created the audio samples together with employees from the newly established acoustics laboratory: Lab manager Benjamin Hecker, research assistant Lukas Lübbert and research assistant Simon Hemmers.

To the acoustics laboratory 

The university elections are coming up. Representatives of all students and employees of Fachhochschule Dortmund will be elected for six important committees:

• Senate
• Faculty councils
• Women's Advisory Board
• Institute Council IDiAL
• Student parliament
• Student councils

In this episode, Ines van Smirren and Tilman Abegg talk to student Alyssa Blümel, staff member Sandra Stahlberg and Professor Torsten Füg. The three committee members explain why this commitment is so important to them and what they gain from it.

A good overview of the upcoming elections with lots of information and all relevant dates can be found here(Opens in a new tab)  (intranet).
It also explains how anyone can stand for election to one or more committees.

Few things are currently developing as quickly as the discussion about ChatGPT - and the program itself. What it can do is something that most people previously thought was impossible: being able to write all kinds of texts in seconds and at the linguistic and often also qualitative level of university theses. We spoke to computer scientist Prof. Dr. Sven Jörges about the enormous potential and impressive capabilities of ChatGPT text AI, as well as the dangers.

We conducted the interview on March 13. On March 14, one day before the publication of this episode, the company OpenAI announced the release of the new version ChatGPT 4, which many experts expected to be immensely more powerful. Numerical example: Instead of 175 billion switching points, called parameters, the successor should already have over 100 trillion parameters, an increase of more than 500 times.
In an interview with Ines van Smirren from Perspective Management and Tilman Abegg from the Press Office, Prof. Dr. Sven Jörges considers the opportunities and risks of this new digital tool and gives a clear answer to the question of how epochal its impact will be.

Tim Sonnenberg researches homelessness. He does this theoretically, with books and discussions at Fachhochschule Dortmund. But also practically, because he has spent a lot of time sitting on the ground with homeless people in pedestrian zones. He has observed how non-homeless people treat them. And he found out: Many people have a very specific idea of what a homeless person begging for money should be like.

In the ninth episode of flurFHunk, Ines van Smirren and Tilman Abegg talk to Tim Sonnenberg about why some people treat homeless people like "better garbage cans" and how it feels to be treated like this on the other side.

Askar Mahmut grew up as a Uyghur in China. In the podcast, he explains how and why he left his home country at the age of 17 and how life led him to university IT at Fachhochschule Dortmund. It is the story of an amazing new beginning.

Addendum to the interview: According to Wikipedia, Askar Mahmut's hometown of Ürümqi has a population of just over four million people (as of 2020). It is the capital of the Uyghur Autonomous Region of Xinjiang.

Sebastian Kreimer works for the CSR team(Opens in a new tab) . Its task is the social responsibility of Fachhochschule Dortmund. He tells us what is involved, what it has to do with saving energy and how closely he has to and wants to look at it. He also explains to us what these stickers on the steps of the university are all about.

Why does a university need professional social media managers? Ben Gottstein and Sascha Lobe talk about the meaning and purpose of their job and give an insight into the topography of trends and techniques on Facebook, Insta and Tiktok. There are also profiproofed account and podcast tips!

The health management program for UAS employees is well organized. Ann-Kathrin Zobel is continuing to expand it. In the podcast, she explains what she is looking out for, what aches and pains we can turn to her with and what else is planned for 2022.

When Eva Schameitat says where she works, she is often met with pity, condescension or ridicule. She is often told that her job has no future. Well, she was wrong: In flurFHunk, she dispels the typical prejudices and tells us what her work in the library at EFS is really like.

Why do we have to learn how devices work? Can't devices learn how people work? Yes, they can, and better and better. Jonas Sorgalla looks into this - and explains why it's good when the oven checks who turns it on.

Computer scientist Jonas Sorgalla is a research assistant, lecturer and doctoral candidate at the Institute for the Digital Transformation of Application and Living Domains (IDiAL) at Fachhochschule Dortmund.

In this episode, Jonas Sorgalla presents his current top five podcasts. Here are the links:

• State of the Nation (https://lagedernation.org/)
• One Hour of History (https://www.deutschlandfunknova.de/podcasts/download/eine-stunde-history)
• Time Crime (https://www.zeit.de/serie/verbrechen)
• Falscher Einwurf (https://www.jam.fm/podcast/FALSCHER-EINWURF-DER-FU%C3%9FBALL-PODCAST-id372334.html)
• Fiete Gastro (https://fietegastro.podigee.io/)

And because the decision was not easy, a few honorable mentions:

• Deutschland 3000 (https://www.ardaudiothek.de/sendung/deutschland3000-ne-gute-stunde-mit-eva-schulz/66261430)
• SWR2 Wissen (https://www.swr.de/swr2/programm/podcast-swr2-wissen-100.html)
• Deutschlandfunk Background (https://www.deutschlandfunk.de/hintergrund.723.de.html)
• Bohndesliga (https://rocketbeans.tv/mediathek/podcast/149/Bohndesliga)

A good idea for a practical seminar assignment in the digital semester: food photography at home. Without professional studio equipment, but with ingenuity and a talent for improvisation. And with professional standards: the pictures should be so beautiful that they would adorn any cookbook.

Photographers of the pictures in the slider: Ceicillia Dita (1,2), Oliver Nehring (3,4), Lennart Neuhaus (5,6), Katharina Urban (7), Joline Harff (8,9).

The idea came from design lecturer Werner Thiel. In the podcast, he explains how the students approached the task. How pasta or brownies can make a spectacular appearance even with ordinary window light - and whether they are still edible afterwards.

And he talks about the art of delicious pictures in general: what tricks and tips food photographers should know. And how everyone can try their hand at preparing food in a photographically appetizing way.

Photographer and graduate designer Werner Thiel completed several photography courses and studied design at Fachhochschule Dortmund. He headed the faculty's photo workshop from 1999 and has been a "Lecturer for Special Tasks" since 2020.

The series has been online since September 1, 2021.

What was the cold leap into the home office like? How do teaching staff deal with it, what does the HR department do, what experiences does the chancellor have with the situation? We talk about this with six people from the UAS: Vice-Rector Prof. Dr. Katrin Löhr, Chancellor Jochen Drescher, Head of Human Resources Anja Burda, Legal Advisor Thilo Groll, Professor of Computer Science Dr. Martin Hirsch and Sonja Wentzel from Family Services.

Small warning: We recorded this episode under original home office conditions. You can hear that - the sound is typical home office.

The episode is online since August 1, 2021.

Who, what, why, with whom?

A podcast for Fachhochschule Dortmund - Why are we doing this?
We tell you in the trailer.

Ines van Smirren and Tilman Abegg make flurFHunk: they look for topics and prepare them, find discussion partners and moderate the episodes. Ines van Smirren manages many other projects in perspective management(Opens in a new tab) , Tilman Abegg develops texts, ideas and more in the <perspective management(Opens in a new tab) , Tilman Abegg develops texts, ideas and more in the press office(Opens in a new tab) .