Anja Karen Kölling - Research Associate

Anja Karen Kölling graduated from the Free University of Berlin in 2007 in modern German literature, linguistics, psychology and theatre studies. Following this, she completed supplementary studies in applied literary studies and German as a foreign language.

She began her international teaching career in 2000 with German as a foreign language classes and cultural work at the Casa de Cultura Alemã of the Universidade Federal do Ceará in Fortaleza (Brazil) and during the progression of her professional career, she has worked at the German House of New York University, the universities UFRRJ in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) and Università degli Studi di Milano in Milan (Italy), the Goethe-Institut in Lisbon (Portugal) and the GLS Language Centre in Berlin, among others.

After several years as a teacher in welcome and German classes at the Oberstufenzentrum Modeschule Berlin (2015–2018), Karen Kölling worked as a project manager and editor in adult education at Cornelsen Verlag from 2018 to 2020. At the same time, she volunteered as a trainer at the Netbased Learning Institute in Berlin and also led freelance nationwide and international teacher training and coaching courses, mainly for DaF/DaZ teaching. From 2021 to 2024, she worked as a DAAD lecturer at the Università degli Studi di Milano.

As a native of Potsdam, she returned to her hometown after her stay in Milan and has since been involved in promoting multilingualism in everyday life and the concrete transfer of theory into practice at the University of Potsdam as part of the innovative teaching project ‘Teaching German in multilingual primary school classes’. Since 2025, she 's also an academic assistant in Prof. Dr. Giera's team in the field of inclusive German didactics at the University of Potsdam. There, she focuses on theatre education methods, embodied learning and pronunciation training in connection with reading skills in German lessons.

The close connection between teaching practice, teacher training and research shapes her profile, as does the development of practical didactic concepts for publishers and language schools. Karen Kölling has received funding from the DAAD for her academic activities on several occasions.