Dr. Julius Fenn
EDUCATIONAL TRAINING
Sep 2015 – Sep 2018
Applied Statistics (M.Sc.),
University of Göttingen
Sep 2012 – July 2015
Psychology (B.Sc.),
Université de Fribourg (CH)
Sep 2011 – March 2012
Renewable energy systems,
Technical University, Dresden
March 2011 – Sep 2011
teaching (state examination),
Pedagogical university of Freiburg
Aug 2010 – Jan 2011
civilian service,
University hospital Freiburg
Aug 2007 – Jul 2010
biotechnological secondary school,
Merian school Freiburg
PROFESSIONAL TRAINING
Since April 2024
Postdoctoral researcher at the Cluster of Excellence Living, Adaptive and Energy-autonomous Materials Systems (University of Freiburg)
Since October 2020
PhD Project in the DFG Research Training Group “Statistical Modeling in Psychology”, primary advisor Prof. Kiesel (University of Freiburg)
Since Jan 2020
Freelancer: coach for data analysis (supervision of bachelor, master and doctoral theses), private tuition on statistics
March 2019 – Dez 2019
PhD project in empirical educational research (international education monitoring and education reporting) at the University of Hamburg
Nov 2018 – Feb 2018
Student assistant in empirical educational research in Freiburg
Jul 2016 – Jan 2017
Student assistant in empirical educational research in Göttingen
Since April 2016
Correction of statistical examinations of psychology students
SUPERVISION & MENTORING
PhD candidates (24 – present)
Ongoing support for 2 doctoral researchers: publication planning, manuscript development and research strategy.
Student Theses (20 – present)
Primary supervisor for 9 Bachelor and 5 Master Theses, guiding project design, data analysis and academic writing
WORKSHOPS
Large Language Models
Large Language Models: Introduction & Hands-On (1-day workshop) – Winter Semester 2024/25.
GitHub materials: https://github.com/FennStatistics/introductory-workshop-in-LLMs
R/ R-Studio
R / R Studio Workshops (2-day & 4-day formats) – Summer Semesters 2023 – 2025.
GitHub materials: https://github.com/FennStatistics/introductory-workshop-in-R
Mixed Models
Introduction to Mixed Models in R (FDZ Academy, Berlin, 1-day workshop) – August 2019.
Internal workshops
Internal workshops on survey development and analysis, bibliometrics, “Cognitive-Affective Map” Tools, Scientific Writing
COURSES, SEMINARS
winter semester 2024
Seminar om “General Psychology: Perception, Attention, Memory”
winter semester 2020/23
Seminar in “Scientific concepts and methods”
winter semester 2020/21/22
Supervision of 3 empirical-experimental internships
winter semester 2021
Fundamentals of Questionnaire Design and Analysis using lab.js and R at the University College Freiburg
winter semester 2019
seminar in „quantitative research methods of educational science“
summer semester 2019
seminar in „social conditions of education“
APPLIED GRANTS
Funding Source
Role & Purpose
Amount Outcome
Student Council – Teaching Support Grant
Secured funds to hire student assistants for my 4-day intensive R workshop
€ 1,380
Awarded
University Teaching Fellowship
Principal applicant; fellowship used for data-collection for my own research projects
€ 2,000
Awarded
Horizon Europe (HORIZON-CL6-2023-ZEROPOLLUTION)
Co-lead author of the Social-Science Work Package; proposal requested funding for a 3-year post-doctoral position focused on behavioral dimensions of avoiding pollution
€ 450,000
Highly rated, not funded
VISITED WORKSHOPS
| Hands-on browser-based Experimentation | Useful Software for a “Statistical Modeling in Psychology” PhD |
| Advanced topics in browser-based experimentation | Foundations 1 (Instructor: Thorsten Meiser) |
| Introduction to R: Advanced | Rules of Good Scientific Practice |
| Advanced topics in R | Writing Research Proposals |
| R Package Building | Conference Presentations |
| Writing APA-style Manuscripts in R | Academic Writing and Publishing |
| Cognitive Modeling in R | Foundations 1 (Instructor: Thorsten Meiser) |
| Python – Introductory Course | Evidence, Errors, and Belief: A Stroll through the Statistical Inference Maze |
| Machine Learning (using R) | Improving your statistical questions |
| IRT Modeling – Theory and Applications in R | Foundations 2: Stochastic Models of Time-Dependent Cognitive Mechanisms |
| Two workshops on Large Language Models (Tübingen, Wien) | Foundations 2: Multinomial-Processing-Tree (MPT) Modeling: Basic Methods and Recent Advances |
| Longitudinal Structural Equation Models | Multiverse Analysis: Taming Modelers’ Many Degrees of Freedom |
| Dynamic Latent Class Models for the Detection of Inattention | Basic Concepts of Stochastic Processes |
| Foundations 2: Modeling Intraindividual Variability and Change | Hands-on Open Science |
| Workshop: Modeling Within-Person Associations in Longitudinal Data | On the quantification of model uncertainty: A Bayesian perspective |
| Summer school on “multilevel measurement models” | Introduction to Bayesian Modeling |
| Multilevel Structural Equation Modeling | Philosophy of Science |
| Numerical Methods for Quantitative Psychologists (numerical optimization) | The Science of Science Communication |
I am developing tools to assess the acceptance and possible ethical issues of emerging technologies. Emerging technologies are at a research and development stage and not yet integrated in existing normative frameworks for decision-making. Depending on the technological maturity innovative methods to assess these technologies are necessary – therefore I am developing within my PhD two central tools:
Cognitive-Affective Maps (CAMs)
We have developed tools to collect and analyze data of Cognitive-Affective Maps (CAMs). Using CAMs it is possible to identify, visually represent and analyze existing belief structures or any kind of semantic knowledge. CAM incorporates so-called affective valances by representing whether a person associates positive, negative, neutral or ambivalent emotions with a concept. Furthermore, it is possible to specify the connections in different strengths and dashed lines stand for inhibitory connections and solid lines stand for strengthening connections. CAMs additionally contain directional arrows, which represent a directional effect. Thus, CAMs represent a weighted directional network with a simple graph structure and can be analyzed and summarized by means of network analysis. Two tools have been developed and are currently being revised:
- CAM tools central webpage: www.drawyourminds.de
- software for data collection -> Cognitive-Affective Maps extended logic (C.A.M.E.L): camgalaxy.github.io/
- software for data preprocessing and analysis -> CAM-App: https://fennapps.shinyapps.io/CAMtools_CAMapp/
If you are interested in setting up a CAM study, please contact me!
Ethics Scale of Technology Assessment
We have developed the “Ethics Scale of Technology Assessment” consisting of 51 items belonging to six moral theories. This scale allow a highly economic assessment of possible ethical concerns regarding emerging technologies of different stakeholders. By including different ethical theories, it is now possible to evaluate empirically if certain emerging technologies differ in their line of ethical argumentation (like “iPhone vs. nuclear power plant”). The ethic scale is conceptualized as the degree respondents believe a technology is morally acceptable regarding multiple ethical theories and servers as a “broad early warning system”.
PUBLICATIONS – PUBLISHED
2025
- Fenn, J., Gouret, F., Gorki, M., Reuter, L., Gros, W., Hüttner, P., & Kiesel, A. (2025). Cognitive-affective maps extended logic: Proposing tools to collect and analyze attitudes and belief systems. Behavior Research Methods, 57(6), 174. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13428-025-02699-y
- Gorki, M., Speck, O., Möller, M., Fenn, J., Estadieu, L., Menges, A., Schiller, M., Speck, T., & Kiesel, A. (2025). Challenging the Biomimetic Promise—Do Laypersons Perceive Biomimetic Buildings as More Sustainable and More Acceptable? Biomimetics, 10(2), Article 2. https://doi.org/10.3390/biomimetics10020086
2024
- Gros, W., Reuter, L., Sprich, J., Schuldzinski, D., Fenn, J., & Kiesel, A. (2024). Cognitive-affective maps (CAMs) as measurement tool – Elaboration of quantitative and qualitative test-retest reliability. Technology in Society, 78, 102651. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techsoc.2024.102651
2023
- Fenn, J., Helm, J. F., Höfele, P., Kulbe, L., Ernst, A., & Kiesel, A. (2023). Identifying key-psychological factors influencing the acceptance of yet emerging technologies–A multi-method-approach to inform climate policy. PLOS Climate, 2(6), 1–25. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pclm.0000207
2022
- Livanec, S., Stumpf, M., Reuter, L., Fenn, J., & Kiesel, A. (2022). Who’s gonna use this? Acceptance prediction of emerging technologies with Cognitive-Affective Mapping and transdisciplinary considerations in the Anthropocene. The Anthropocene Review, 1–20. https://doi.org/10.1177/20530196221078924
2021
- Reuter, L., Fenn, J., Bilo, T. A., Schulz, M., Weyland, A. L., Kiesel, A., & Thomaschke, R. (2021). Leisure walks modulate the cognitive and affective representation of the corona pandemic: Employing Cognitive-Affective Maps within a randomized experimental design. Applied Psychology: Health and Well-Being, 13(4), 952–967. https://doi.org/10.1111/aphw.12283
PUBLICATIONS – UNDER REVIEW
- Fenn*, F., Estadieu*, L., Gorki, M., Monno, I., Tauber, F., Teichmann, J., Levy-Tzedek, S., Müller, O., & Kiesel, A. (under review). Understanding Public Perception of Soft and Rigid Robots: A German Case Study on Risks and Benefits.
- Fenn, J., Gorki, M., Höfele, P., Estadieu, L., Becht, C., Kulbe, L., de Wall, M., Gekeler, J., & Kiesel, A. (under review). A Data-driven Multi-Method-Approach for Identifying Ethical Concerns of Emerging Technologies
PUBLICATIONS – NEARLY (RE-)SUBMITTED
- Fenn, J., Höfele, P., Sölder, P., Reuter, L., & Kiesel, A. (in prep.). Development and Validation of an Empirical Ethics Scale for Technology Assessment—Challenges and Perspectives for a Real Time Ethics for Emerging Technologies.
- Fenn, J., Sölder, P., Königs, L., Reuter, L., Conrad, S., Estadieu, L., Höfele, P., & Kiesel, A. (in prep.). Using Basal Attributes to Identify Key Properties of New Material Systems to Increase the Acceptance.