Name, First Name: Hadrych, Ingo
Nationality: German
City, Country: Buxtehude, Germany
Study Program: Civil Engineering, Ph.D.
Position, Employer: Präsident of the Buxtehuder hochschule 21

„Don’t be afraid to tackle big issues“

Why did you choose the TU Hamburg and your subject at the time?
My father was a self-employed architect, so I was not unfamiliar with construction. I also completed a degree in architecture at what was then the Hamburg University of Applied Sciences, but quickly realized that the design subjects are more important to me than the design subjects. A degree in the relatively young civil engineering course at the TU Hamburg was an obvious choice – both the degree and the subsequent doctorate.

What was your career like after you left the TU Hamburg?
My topics of steel and timber construction prompted me to switch to the medium-sized construction industry at the Hamburg company HC Hagemann, which at the time was intensively involved in the renovation of riveted bridge structures. There I gradually grew into real estate project development. In 2017 I decided to work at a university. I took over the professorship for structural engineering and building informatics at the university 21 in Buxtehude. I have been the President of this university since October 2020.

What is the best thing about your current job?
On the one hand, I work in an academic environment, where I really enjoyed passing on knowledge and experience to students in the lectures, and on the other hand, in my role as President, I am now able to shape and shape this environment to a certain extent.

What does a typical working day look like for you and what skills do you need for it?
In these challenging Corona times and after such a short time in office, there is still no typical working day, but I can say so much: A very significant part is made up of communication with the various parties involved in a university, from students to colleagues in Academics and administration to various committees, such as the university senate.

What do you use from your studies for your job?
Of course, I still need my construction knowledge from my studies at a university of applied sciences with a large construction department. Above all, I also took along the ability to think analytically and in a structured manner. Bringing content into a clear structure, simplifying complex topics if necessary and prioritizing questions are things that are extremely important for dealing with non-subject questions.

What is your guide? Do you have a work or life motto?
You shouldn’t be afraid to tackle new topics and hurdles that might seem big at first – the others only cook with water. In addition, open and honest interaction is important to me, but always on a factual and non-personal level.

What kind of student were you? Nerd or party animal?
Even if it sounds boring, more the job-oriented nerd.

Was there an unforgettable experience during your time at TU Hamburg?
Two things come to mind very spontaneously: on the one hand, a day excursion to a bridge shift in Hesse with one of my professors at the time, during which we had to struggle with his somewhat aged vehicle and lubricating oil losses on the way, and on the other hand, a field test as part of a study project at where we carried out vibration measurements on a pedestrian bridge in Wilhelmsburg and hopping with several students to stimulate the bridge to vertical and torsional vibrations.

I would like to swap a day with …
… a scientist at Neumayer Station in Antarctica.

What would you ask an omniscient researcher from the future?
I would like to know whether the current pandemic situation will one day simply be an anecdote in history or whether it will change us and our coexistence in the long term.

If you were President of the TU Hamburg …
... what would be important to me is overcoming the boundaries that I keep seeing in the university landscape, sometimes in the form of state borders between Hamburg and Lower Saxony, sometimes in the form of fear of contact or fear of competition between universities, technical colleges or private universities. After all, we all have a common goal, namely to advance teaching, research and further training.

“It is important to me to be open and honest.”