Judge what deserves attention.
Assess research, new tools and provider claims. Explain which findings apply to your organisation, where evidence is weak and what needs testing.
The Scientist-Practitioner Programme
Scientific TrainerCorporate Learning
& Development
Bring scientific judgement into the way your organisation learns.
Develop the people who turn complex expertise into learning: from evaluating research and designing programmes to applying, studying and improving them in practice.
Joining on your own? Dates, fees and booking are on the open Scientific Trainer page.
A scientific capability inside L&D
Make learning decisions
you can explain.
Your organisation already has subject expertise, learning platforms and development programmes. This programme builds the capability to judge, design and evaluate how they are used.
Turn expertise into learning.
Translate complex knowledge into objectives, practice, feedback and workplace application. Give internal experts a method they can use repeatedly.
Build evidence for decisions.
Define what success would look like. Collect suitable data and distinguish participant experience, learning, transfer and business outcomes.
The full development programme
The Scientist-Practitioner
Programme.
Use research to improve practice. Use questions from practice to generate evidence. Qualification, ongoing development, continuing education and applied studies form one coherent pathway.
Scientific Trainer
- Twelve live online workshops of three hours, followed by a final project day.
- Neuroscience, psychology, systems thinking, AI and evaluation applied to your own L&D project.
- Project check-ins, implementation consultations and structured peer and expert feedback.
Outcome: a scientifically grounded learning concept and an evaluation plan.
Senior Scientific Masterclass
- A three-year framework for developing your work with scientific guidance.
- Fortnightly group consultations, individual sessions within the agreed scope and peer review.
- Ongoing support with evidence appraisal, study design, statistics and programme development.
Outcome: a continuing capability to investigate and improve your own practice.
A programme that keeps developing.
- Selected specialist seminars extend the core qualification.
- Topics include AI in L&D, evaluation, business value, communication neuroscience and medical foundations.
- The seminar selection, access period and delivery language are agreed for your corporate programme.
Outcome: deeper expertise in the areas your work requires.
Study your own learning programmes.
- A first guided pilot within the Masterclass helps turn a question into an initial trial data collection.
- Full study delivery is available as a defined research work package.
- Agree the design, instruments, data collection, analysis and reporting before the study begins.
Outcome: findings and limitations that inform the next programme decision.
Build a corporate agreement around these components. The proposal specifies qualification, Masterclass participation, continuing-education access and any commissioned study. A full study is priced separately from the standard Masterclass fee.
Start with work that matters
Bring a real
learning challenge.
For L&D teams, internal trainers, leadership and talent development, and scientific or technical experts who already develop others.
Scientific onboarding
Help people become capable in a complex role. Build a learning path around the knowledge, decisions and tasks the work requires.
Possible evaluation focus: task performance and time to competence.
Expert-led learning
Turn dense source material into an effective learning sequence. Connect explanations with practice, feedback and later retrieval.
Possible evaluation focus: knowledge retention and scenario performance.
AI in everyday work
Develop learning around approved AI tools, suitable tasks, source verification and human review.
Possible evaluation focus: task quality, critical errors and review effort.
Leadership and change
Design development around observable behaviour and the organisational conditions that support its use.
Possible evaluation focus: behavioural feedback and workplace application.
From previous
participant projects
The neuroscience of storytelling in a pharma L&D context, and neuroscience-informed IT project management in the pharmaceutical sector. These are examples of project topics.
Explore the Scientific Trainer curriculum · 12 workshops + final project day
- 01 · Critical appraisal and science transferJudge sources, evidence quality and the limits of claims.
- 02 · AI-supported researchSearch and structure information, then verify it.
- 03 · NeuroplasticityUnderstand the biology of learning and the limits of practical inference.
- 04 · Brain structures and networksMake neuroanatomy relevant to learning and behaviour.
- 05 · NeuropsychologyConnect attention, memory, emotion and motivation with learning design.
- 06 · People in systemsConsider biological, psychological and social conditions together.
- 07 · Learning design and future skillsAlign objectives, learning activities, assessment and transfer.
- 08 · AI in L&DSupport research, design and materials; develop critical AI literacy.
- 09 · Evaluation and business valueChoose indicators, designs and analyses that fit the question.
- 10 · Evidence-based coachingExamine insights from neuropsychotherapy for coaching practice.
- 11 · Decision-making and leadershipExamine behavioural economics and neuroscience in context.
- 12 · Change and transformationConnect learning with wider organisational change.
Final project day: present your learning concept, explain its scientific rationale and discuss the design and evaluation plan with peers and experts.
Voices from pharma and academia
Reported from inside the programme.
Graduates from the pharmaceutical industry and professors who know the programme first-hand.
“This is what makes learning fun. The three-level perspective helped me bring my skills together into a business model with a clear thread running through it.”
Dr. Tobias Pfaller
Medicinal chemistry, pharma · Resilience trainer
Project in the Senior Scientific Masterclass: systemic project management based on the tetrahedron model, with a questionnaire instrument of his own.
Video statements
Three graduates from the pharmaceutical industry in their own words.
Global Business Project LeadHeinz Scherz
Scientific Trainer know-how in global deployments, training and change projects.
Consultant · former Managing Director, pharmaStephan-Günther Dolle
Deeper neuroscience-based work and a network that holds after the programme.
Trainer and coach · pharmaceutical industryChristina Binsmaier
The Scientific Trainer background as a basis for corporate learning in the pharmaceutical industry.
Each YouTube video is loaded only after you click.
Academic references
“Highly suitable for anyone who genuinely wants to learn and is not afraid to engage with the natural sciences.”
Prof. Dr. Anke van Kempen
Professor of Research, Innovation and Transfer
“Highly recommended for anyone who wants to work on a scientific footing and to demonstrate the impact of their own work.”
Prof. Dr. Axel Koch
The Transfer Strength Method
Applied research and study delivery
A better question.
A study that can answer it.
What should change after your programme? Which data would show that change? Our research support connects the learning intervention with a feasible investigation and a clear account of what the findings mean.
Question and design
Define the decision, outcomes and comparison. Choose a design appropriate to the question and practical constraints.
Measures and pilot
Select suitable instruments and test the collection process before committing to the full study.
Data collection and analysis
Implement the agreed procedure. Analyse the data with transparent assumptions and appropriate methods.
Findings and next decisions
Report estimates, uncertainty and limitations. Translate the findings into decisions about the learning programme.
Within the Masterclass
Scientific guidance and a first supported pilot up to an initial trial data collection. Participants develop their own research capability.
As a commissioned study
Full implementation, instrument development where needed, data collection, analysis or project hosting are agreed and priced as a separate work package. Company responsibilities and data handling are defined in the scope.
Continuing education
Keep expertise connected
to changing work.
Extend the programme with the specialist knowledge your team needs next.
- AI-assisted research, design and material development
- Evaluation, measurement and practical statistics
- Business value and the economics of L&D
- Psychology and communication neuroscience
- Medical foundations for learning and performance
- Immersive learning and suitable uses of VR
The Scientific Trainer team
Scientific depth.
A team for your practice.
Dr. Franz Hütter, Nicolas Stege and Dr. med. Franz Sperlich bring complementary expertise to the Scientific Trainer qualification.
Programme lead
Dr. Franz Hütter
Dr. rer. medic., M.A. Neuroscience, psychology and science transfer. Doctorate on genetic determinants of empathy at the University of Duisburg-Essen; research and teaching at Essen University Hospital, and teaching in Applied Cognitive Neuroscience.
He leads the Scientific Trainer and the wider programme, and co-leads the Masterclass with Prof. Dr. Ulrich Lenz.
Evaluation and statistics
Nicolas Stege, M.Sc.
Scientific Trainer team member. Statistics, evaluation and instrument development, connecting practical questions with suitable measures and analyses.
Medicine and neuroscience
Dr. med. Franz Sperlich
Scientific Trainer team member. Physician and trainer, contributing medical and neuroscience expertise to learning and development.
The extended programme team
Masterclass, AI and continuing development.
Dr. Franz Hütter continues as programme lead. Together with Prof. Dr. Ulrich Lenz and Sandra Mareike Lang, he connects long-term scientific development with specialist AI expertise.
Masterclass co-lead
Prof. Dr. Ulrich Lenz
Co-leads the Senior Scientific Masterclass with Dr. Franz Hütter. Organisational development, leadership, change and the business value of L&D.
AI expert
Sandra Mareike Lang
AI across the extended programme: research, learning design, materials and practical workflows, with critical review of the results. Co-author of Neurodidaktik für Trainer.
Selected books: Neurodidaktik für Trainer, Hütter & Lang, 5th ed., 2026. Change happens, Klinkhammer, Hütter, Stoess & Wüst, 3rd ed., 2024. Published in German.
Faculty involvement is agreed for each corporate engagement.
Faculty involvement is agreed for each corporate engagement.
Your corporate programme
A clear scope.
A shared working agenda.
Start with the people you want to develop, the work they need to improve and the questions you want to investigate.
Agree the programme.
- Participants
- Experienced L&D professionals, internal trainers and suitable subject experts. Dedicated cohorts from seven participants.
- Delivery
- German or English, live online. Regional session times, materials and specialist sessions are agreed for the cohort.
- Project
- A real organisational learning challenge, with a sponsor and access to the inputs needed for the work.
- Tools
- Inhouse licences for Evidence-Check and Nudging Bloom support evidence review and learning alignment. Access terms and company-approved tools are agreed.
Define the investment.
Your proposal sets out the qualification, Masterclass participation, specialist education and any study deliverables, together with responsibilities, milestones and fees.
Entry to the Scientific Trainer requires at least two years of relevant professional experience. The current Masterclass pathway requires completion of the Scientific Trainer and TÜV qualification.
Personnel certification through PersCert TÜV is an optional addition to the standalone Scientific Trainer. The certification pathway can be included in your corporate programme. View scheme 0000081633.
Before we start
A few practical questions.
Can we start with the Scientific Trainer?
Yes. The qualification provides a defined starting point. The wider Scientist-Practitioner Programme adds ongoing Masterclass development, selected continuing education and, where needed, a commissioned study. These components can be planned together.
Is a complete study included in the Masterclass?
The standard Masterclass includes scientific guidance and one supported pilot up to an initial trial data collection. Full study implementation is a separate research work package. Its methods, deliverables, responsibilities and price are agreed in advance.
How does this fit our existing learning and AI systems?
The work starts with your learning environment and approved tools. We agree the materials, access requirements and data handling during scoping. Technical integration or software development can be specified where needed.
What can our team show at the end?
The Scientific Trainer produces a presented and reviewed learning concept with an evaluation plan. The Masterclass supports its continued development. A commissioned study adds the data, analysis and report specified in the research agreement.
What if one person wants to join an open cohort?
Individual participants can explore the open Scientific Trainer programme, including current dates, fees and booking options.
What should your organisation
be able to do better?
Bring one learning challenge, the roles you want to develop and the evidence you need for your next decision.
Dr. Franz Hütter · BRAIN-HR
fh@brain-hr.com