Innovative Teaching Award 2026

The Award for Innovative Teaching recognizes innovative teaching concepts that incorporate new ideas and approaches in the field of university teaching and learning. The award is announced annually at the end of the year. The winners are selected by a jury.

Eva Marckhgott and Tatiana Rittler have received this award for their creative and practice-oriented teaching approach! We extend our heartfelt congratulations!

This year’s theme for the award: Innovative Teaching in the Age of Generative AI.

The course “Marketing and Consumer Research Project” introduces students to the full process of conducting a marketing and consumer research project, from study design and data collection to analysis, interpretation, and reporting. In collaboration with a company partner, students work in teams to apply qualitative and quantitative research methods to real marketing problems and to generate actionable customer insights.
An innovative element of the course is the focused and reflective integration of generative AI into the research process. Rather than using AI as a tool that “does the work”, students engage with AI as a sparring partner that supports ideation, study design, pretesting, and the synthesis of findings. Thus, students interact with AI as a tutor, as a respondent and as a synthetic embodiment of the key insights. Students critically evaluate AI-generated inputs, reflect on their added value and limitations, and document their own decision-making processes. The course aims to strengthen students’ methodological competencies, critical thinking, and AI literacy. Students learn when and how AI can meaningfully support research work, while retaining responsibility for conceptual decisions, methodological rigor, and the interpretation of results.

A big thank you goes out to the students and industry partners who bring our courses to life!