Josef Nerb

Josef Nerb is a Professor of Educational Psychology and Dean at the University of Education Freiburg, where he works in the Department of Social Psychology and Evaluation within the Faculty of Psychology. His office is located at KG II 220 and Heinrich-v.-Stephan-Str. 5a, 114, 1st floor (Hölderle-Carré), and he holds consultation hours on Thursdays from 2:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. He has been at PH Freiburg since 2005 when he received his professorship, following previous positions as a research assistant at the University of Freiburg since 1993 and a postdoc at the University of Waterloo in 2000/2001.

Nerb's research spans educational psychology, cognitive psychology, and emotion studies, with particular focus on appraisal theory, attentional skills, decision making, and more recently AI applications in education. His work shows a clear trajectory from environmental risk perception studies early in his career to more recent investigations of digital technologies in educational contexts. His publications demonstrate interdisciplinary collaboration across psychology, education, and computer science fields.

His recent work has increasingly focused on the intersection of technology and education, with multiple publications on voice user experience, AI in STEM education, and digital learning environments. This represents an evolution from his earlier foundational work on emotion-cognition interactions and environmental risk assessment.

Nerb has supervised numerous doctoral students through graduate colleges including the Graduate College Human and Machine Intelligence in Freiburg. His research has been supported by organizations including the DFG (German Research Foundation) and the ESF (European Science Foundation).

His academic leadership extends beyond his professorship to his current role as Dean, where he oversees academic operations within his faculty. His work bridges theoretical cognitive psychology with practical educational applications, making significant contributions to both research and practice in educational psychology.