As part of the Circular School teaching project funded by the Foundation for Innovation in Higher Education, the Karlsruhe University of Arts and Design is seeking to fill the following position starting July 1, 2026, or as soon as possible:
The position is limited to four years and is part-time (75%). Remuneration is based on the provisions of the Collective Agreement for the Public Service of the German Länder (TV-L), depending on personal qualifications, up to pay grade E 13.
The Circular School is a new teaching and research program at the Karlsruhe University of Arts and Design, funded by the Foundation for Innovation in Higher Education. The program focuses on working with circular processes and time-based materials, whose cycles of creation and reuse are intended to serve as a model for a new approach to organizing academic studies. Building on the Bio Design Lab and its previous projects, the Circular School is developing a cross-disciplinary program that combines teaching, artistic and design research, site-specific material practice, and public outreach. Students are involved in these activities from their first year of study and learn through formats that go beyond the traditional seminar and semester structure. In cooperation with regional and national partner institutions, this creates a new space for learning and research both within and outside the university. The goal is to translate ecological and social responsibility into creative action and to further develop the HfG Karlsruhe as an open, networked, and experimental university.
The Material Cultivating position is responsible for the material, biological, and practical infrastructure of the Circular School. It connects the Bio Design Lab—as the central hub—with the workshops, courses, student projects, and outdoor spaces to form an expanded learning and research platform for time-based materials, ideally with a focus on bio-based, renewable, and compostable raw materials.
Responsibilities include in particular:
- Establishing, maintaining, and further developing the material-practice infrastructure of the Circular School, especially in the Bio Design Lab and the Living Library
- Supervising material samples, biological processes, cultivation approaches, composting, fermentation, mycelium, plant, fiber, and other bio-based experiments
- Sharing responsibility for developing and implementing the Circular School teaching formats, especially Circular Studios, workshops, lecture series, Summer Schools, and public programs
- Advising and supporting student projects working with bio-based, living, and non-standardized materials
- Researching, selecting, procuring, producing, and documenting materials, tools, protocols, and experimental setups
- Developing routines for care, safety, hygiene, and use of material, laboratory, workshop, and outdoor processes in coordination with the responsible university offices
- Supervising and activating garden, natural, or outdoor areas as learning and experimentation spaces in collaboration with the project team and external partners
- Contributing to excursions, field trips, and mobile formats, particularly with regard to material research, sampling, cultivation, and ecological cycles
- Collaborating with the Bioregional Weaving and Digital Garden Keeping areas on documentation, material archiving, mediation, and knowledge transfer
- Contributing to annual exhibitions, conference and festival contributions, publications, and other dissemination and transfer formats
We reserve the right to change the scope of responsibility
- Completed university degree in a scientific, artistic, or design-related field, e.g. design, bio design, material design, materials science, biology, environmental sciences, artistic research, or a related field
- Demonstrated practical experience in bio/material design, bio-based materials, living materials, experimental material research, DIY biology, laboratory practice, workshop practice, or cultivation practices
- Experience in supervising material processes, samples, laboratory, workshop, or archive structures
- Knowledge in several of the following areas is an advantage: mycelium, fermentation, composting, plant and fiber materials, natural dyes, biomaterials, material archiving, circular production, or ecological material cycles
- Interest in circular design, time-based materials, regenerative practices, and experimental teaching formats
- Experience in teaching, mediation, workshop conception, or supervising student projects is an advantage
- Ability to structure experimental processes safely, transparently, and accessibly
- Sensitivity to safety, hygiene, care, and sustainability issues when working with non-standardized and living materials
- Very good written and spoken German and English skills
- Independent, structured, careful, and cooperative working style
- Willingness to work regularly on site in Karlsruhe and to supervise laboratory, workshop, teaching, and outdoor processes in person.
- Enjoyment of hands-on work, process facilitation, material care, and interdisciplinary collaboration
- International working environment
- Opportunities for mobile working and working from home
- Flexible working hours
- Professional development and training opportunities
- Support for your mobility with the JobTicket BW
- A highly motivated team eager to explore new paths
HfG Karlsruhe is committed to promoting greater cultural diversity and equality among its academic and administrative staff. Applicants with severe disabilities will be given priority where equally qualified.
Please submit your application, including your CV and the standard application documents, via the online application form by June 17, 2026. Interviews will take place at short notice, tentatively on June 22–23 and June 29–30, 2026.
For information about the position, please contact Julia Ihls by email at [email protected]. Application costs (including travel expenses) cannot be reimbursed.
Information on the collection of personal data from the data subject pursuant to Article 13 GDPR can be found on our homepage under "Open Positions".
Please note that the German text version of the job advertisement is the legally binding version.
