Prof. Dr. Ulrich Pfeiffer

Prof. Dr Ulrich Pfeiffer studied cognitive science, computational linguistics and neuroscience in Osnabrück, Saarbrücken and Tübingen. He completed his PhD at the University of Cologne on the topic of ‘human–machine interaction’, focusing on the neuropsychological foundations of social interaction in virtual spaces. Following research stays in Canada and Switzerland, he held various senior management positions in the public sector, where he dealt with issues at the interface of digitalisation, strategy and organisational development. He subsequently worked as part of the management team at an IT and digitalisation consultancy, advising medium-sized enterprises and large international corporations on digital strategy, information security and ‘New Work’. He is a keynote speaker on topics relating to the future of work and how it is being transformed by artificial intelligence.

Research: Prof. Dr Pfeiffer’s research interests lie in the interaction between people and technology, and in the digital transformation of small and medium-sized enterprises. Of particular importance in this regard are the application of AI in the contexts of learning and knowledge work, and the empowerment of people and organisations to utilise innovative technologies.

Teaching: In his teaching, Prof. Dr Pfeiffer covers the topics of digitalisation, IT, AI, work and organisational psychology, and quantitative research methods. His modules address the impacts of digital transformation on the economy, politics and society, and the development of digital business models using agile methods. In addition, he teaches on topics relating to organisational psychology in the digital age. In all his courses, his focus is on imparting and testing digital and non-digital future skills.

Academic self-governance: Prof. Dr Pfeiffer is Deputy Chair of the Senate Commission for Research and Transfer, spokesperson for the HEP working group on the ‘Research Portfolio of the Future’, and a member of the HSRW Ethics Committee.

University strategy: As a professor specialising in AI in study programmes and teaching, he is also responsible for the university’s AI strategy and the development of its AI core competence programme. Furthermore, he is involved in key strategic projects led by the university management (e.g. the establishment of the European Centre for Sustainability Transformation, EUZENT).

Prof. Dr Pfeiffer’s research interests lie in the interaction between people and technology, as well as in the digital transformation of small and medium-sized enterprises. Specifically, he works in the following research areas.

Key Research Areas

• Human interaction with virtual agents

• Human decision-making behaviour when interacting with artificial intelligence

• Future Work: Hybrid collaboration in organisations

• Corporate Digital Responsibility: Sustainable corporate responsibility in the digital age

• Digitalisation strategies in small and medium-sized enterprises

Publications:

• Pfeiffer UJ, Busolini O (submitted). The Human Factor in Information Security: Why Secure Behavior Is So Hard and What to Do About It. Journal of Cybersecurity and Privacy.

• Abed O, Pfeiffer UJ, Grosse-Kampmann M, Bök P (accepted). How Do AI Agents Discuss Child-Centered Topics Among Themselves? A Discourse Analysis of an Agent Social Platform (Conference Paper). International Conference on Neural Information Processing 2026, Melbourne, Australia.

• Pfeiffer UJ (accepted). Change Management. In: Idowu S, Schmidpeter R (Hrsg.): SpringerNature Encyclopedia of Circular Economy.

• Pfeiffer UJ, Lorenz L, Gerber A (2026). Teaching with AI Tutors: Legally Compliant, Didactically Valuable, Technologically Innovative. Proceedings “Learning Analytics, Artificial Intelligence and Data Mining in Higher Education 2025”. 

• Pfeiffer UJ, Schröder H (2023). Die Rückseite der Medaille: Psychologische Stolperfallen der agilen Organisationsentwicklung. In: Pilster J, Bauer K, Brosig C (Hrsg.): In_Between – Conference for Co-Creative Leadership. In_Between Konferenzband. Hannover, Stuttgart u. online.  

• Pfeiffer UJ, Mempel A (2022). Eine starke Unternehmenskultur minimiert Cyberrisiken. Digitale Welt, 01/2022: 24 – 27.

• Cole DM, Diaconescu AO, Pfeiffer UJ, Brodersen KH, Mathys CD, Julkowski D, Ruhrmann S, Schilbach L, Tittgemeyer M, Vogeley K, Stephan KE (2020). Atypical Processing of Uncertainty in Individuals at Risk for Psychosis. Neuroimage Clinical, 26: 2 -14. 

• Höfeler C, Pfeiffer UJ (2020). Lehren aus der Corona-Krise - Was sind die Schlüssel für den Erfolg von Digitalisierungsprojekten? Verwaltung Innovativ (Springer), 10/2020: 24 -25.

• Pfeiffer UJ, Schilbach L, Timmermans B, Kuzmanovic B, Georgescu AL, Bente G, Vogeley K (2015). Why we interact: On the functional role of the striatum in real-time social interactions. Neuroimage, 101: 124 - 137.

• Krämer K, Bente G, Kuzmanovic B, Barisci I, Pfeiffer UJ, Georgescu AL, Vogeley K (2014). Neural correlates of emotion perception depending on culture and gaze direction. Culture & Brain, 2: 27 - 51.

• Pfeiffer UJ, Vogeley K, Schilbach L (2013). From gaze cueing to dual eye-tracking: Novel approaches to investigate the neural correlates of gaze in social interaction. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 37(10): 2516 - 2528.

• Krämer K, Bente G, Luo S, Pfeiffer UJ, Han S, Vogeley K (2013). Influence of ethnic group-membership and gaze direction on the perception of emotions: A cross-cultural study between Germany and China. PLoS One, 8(6): e66335.

• Barisic I, Timmermans B, Pfeiffer UJ, Vogeley K, Schilbach L (2013). Using dual eye-tracking to investigate real-time interactions. Proceedings of the ACM SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (Paris).

• Pfeiffer UJ, Timmermans B, Vogeley K, Frith CD, Schilbach L (2013). Towards a neuroscience of social interaction. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 7:22. (Editorial)

• Pfeiffer UJ, Timmermans B, Vogeley K, Frith CD, Schilbach L (2013). Towards a neuroscience of social interaction. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience. https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/211/towards-a-neuroscience-of-social-interaction (Top 100 x. 50.000 Frontiers-Ausgaben, > 1.000.000 Views)

• Pfeiffer UJ, Weidner R (2013). Augenbewegungen in der psychologischen Forschung. In: Schneider F, Fink GR (Hrsg.), Funktionelle MRT in Psychiatrie und Neurologie. 2. Edition. Heidelberg: Springer.

• Pfeiffer UJ (2013). Oxytocin – Not always a moral molecule. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 7:10.

• Pfeiffer UJ, Jording M, Schilbach L, Bente G, Vogeley K (2012). Eyes on the mind: Investigating the influence of gaze dynamics on the perception of others in real-time social interaction. Frontiers in Cognitive Science, 3:537.

• Pfeiffer UJ, Timmermans B, Bente G, Vogeley K, Schilbach LS (2011). A non-verbal Turing test: Differentiating mind from machine in gaze-based social interaction. PLoS One, 6(11): e27591.

• Wilms M, Schilbach L, Pfeiffer UJ, Bente G, Fink GR, Vogeley K (2010). It’s in your eyes – Using gaze-contingent stimuli to create truly interactive paradigms for social cognitive and affective neuroscience. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 5(1): 98 – 107.

• Thoeringer CK, Pfeiffer UJ, Rammes G, Pamplona FA, Moosmang S, Wotjak CT (2010). Early life environment determines the development of adult phobic-like fear responses in BALBc/cAnN mice. Genes, Brain and Behavior, 9(8): 947 – 57.

• Pfeiffer UJ, Fendt M (2006). Prefrontal dopamine D4 receptors are involved in encoding fear extinction. Neuroreport 17(8): 847–850.