Besides the mammoth task of building the institute from scratch at TU Hamburg and establishing it sustainably in the research landscape, the logistics expert emphasizes the importance of the two central research lines: “We were among the first to deal with risk management in value chains. And the great interest—from companies to politics—reflected the societal relevance of our work.” Major crises such as the Corona pandemic and the years-long war in Ukraine have once again confirmed the focus on resilience in recent years. The second research line shaping the institute’s work for many years has been digitalization. Early on, they engaged in today’s Mittelstand-Digital Center, a nationally highly regarded funding initiative, and cooperated on pilot projects and workshops with numerous, primarily medium-sized, companies.
A personal highlight during his time as institute director? Besides the presentation of the nearly 900-page commemorative publication for his 60th birthday as well as numerous awards and congresses, it was the awarding of the Logistics Science Award at the German Logistics Congress 2013 to one of his doctoral students. “That is a very prestigious award, so as a supervisor you can be quite proud. My employee came from Mexico and had invited representatives of his embassy, which led to us subsequently being invited to the embassy ourselves, and the whole thing made the front pages of all Mexican daily newspapers the next day,” Kersten recalls with a smile.
The 66-year-old did not only embark on a journey of discovery through research and teaching but also through numerous additional – including as spokesperson for the professors, as dean or spokesperson for the deans – and from 2003 to 2009 as founding president and scientific director of today’s Kühne Logistics University.
A completely new perspective opened up for him in 2022 through the additional as Vice President for Education at TUHH. And even in this function, he can celebrate many successes: “This year, we were successful in both funding lines submitted to the Foundation for Innovation in Higher Education for the ‘Teaching Architecture of the Future’ – a great distinction!” Moreover, the study program portfolio was further developed, student administration processes optimized, and marketing intensified so that the number of engineering students increased significantly. “The topic of teaching innovation and a better exchange among lecturers is also very close to my heart,” reports the passionate professor, pleased about the launch of the exchange platform “Best Practice in Teaching,” which has just gone live.
What will he miss in the future? “Everything!” Wolfgang Kersten says laughing, “but especially the special atmosphere at the university, the great people, and the open, forward-looking culture here.” While grateful for this versatile and inspiring profession, he now looks forward to having more leisure time for his doctoral students and, above all, to spending time with his family and friends – and already has the next journey of discovery in sight: this time together with his wife, through beautiful landscapes and in the form of a long-distance hike.
