PhD candidates

  • Teddy Amstad

    Teddy Amstad has been teaching “Technisches und Bildnerisches Gestalten“ (design and visual arts) at the Obwalden Cantonal School since 2009, where he also served as vice principal from 2012 to 2025. Since 2024, he has been a lecturer in design and mentoring at the Zug University of Teacher Education. He completed his training as a crafts teacher at Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK) in 2003. This was followed by a master’s degree in art at Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts (HSLU) in 2013, and in 2022 he obtained a master’s degree in TTG design teaching methodology at the Bern University of Teacher Education (PH Bern). In 2020, he founded the studio Farbe & Experiment – Kinder als Experten (Color & Experiment – Children as Experts), an early intervention project for children aged three to five. His research focuses on tacit learning processes in children of this age group in the context of design and free play. His focus is on performativity as an expression of tacit learning – visible in actions, in the use of materials and tools, and in social interactions.

    Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Tobias Loemke (PH Freiburg i.Br.)

    Title: Tacit learning in creative activities and free play among children aged three to five. A qualitative discussion of performativity and co-construction in Cycle 1

  • Dana Blume

    Besides undertaking her doctorate, Dana Blume works as a research associate in the field of E-Learning and in the project management team for LeLa – Learning Laboratory University Education Digital Skills in the Learning and Teaching Dossier at Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK). As a qualified creative therapist and interaction manager with a Master of Arts in Design, she was previously employed as a research associate at the HGK Basel in the Master of Arts in Integrative Design and in the Bachelor in Media Art. As a freelancer, she gained experience as a visual jockey, web and media designer, and has designed short films, audio and video installations. In her leisure time, she likes to teach herself knitting, sewing and other (sometimes unrelated) disciplines.

    Supervisors: Prof. Dr. Magdalena Eckes (University of Siegen) and Prof. Dr. Anne Bergner (ABK Stuttgart)

    Working title research project: «Nachhaltige Reflexion in der Bildung: Systemische Ansätze zur Stärkung der Reflexionsfähigkeiten von Lernenden und Lehrenden»

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  • Natalia Funariu

    Natalia Funariu resides in Bern and has been working as an Art and Visual Design lecturer at the Institute of Primary Education since 2018, and at the preparatory course at the Bern College of Education (PHBern) since 2020. She completed her Master's degree in Didactics of Art and Visual Design at the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK) and the Zurich College of Education (PHZH) in 2021. From 2018 to 2021, Natalia Funariu taught illustration at the preliminary course of the Invers School of Art and Design in Berne. Prior to that, she completed a Master of Secondary Education at Bern College of Education in 2018, worked as a graphic designer in an advertising agency in Berne, and obtained her Bachelor's degree in Visual Communication at the University of the Arts Bern (HKB) in 2010.

    Supervisors: Prof. Dr. Georg Peez (Goethe University Frankfurt) and Prof. Dr. Miriam Schmidt-Wetzel (Zurich University of the Arts ZHdK)

    Working title of the research project: "Virtual Reality and Art Education: A Qualitative-Empirical Study on the Design Processes of Adolescents in Virtual Environments"

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  • Isabela Gygax

    Isabela Gygax works at ZHdK as a research associate at the BA Art Education programme. With a background in fashion design, ethics, sustainability and fashion anthropology, she focuses on systemic change to counteract social and environmental injustices. She studied fashion design and pattern making at the École de la Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture Parisienne before completing a master's programme in Ethics and Sustainability (Fashion Futures) at the University of the Arts London (UAL) in 2018 and a second MA in Fashion Cultures and Histories, also at UAL, in 2022. Her research focuses on the question of human dignity and care in the context of design, fashion and clothing. She has worked with refugee women in Athens, NGOs in Switzerland and a youth foundation in London, among others. Her research focuses on the question of human dignity and care in the context of design, fashion and clothing.

    Supervisors: Prof. Dr. Elke Gaugele (Academy of Fine Arts Vienna), Dr. Anna Mari Almila (Sapienza Università di Roma) and Prof. Dr. Miriam Schmidt-Wetzel (ZHdK)

    Working title research project: “Testing, transforming and developing inclusive educational methods for teaching sustainability values in collaboration with vocational school students”

  • Theresa Martinetti

    Theresa Martinetti has been a research associate at the Institute of Fine Arts at the Freiburg University of Teacher Education in Germany since 2017. She lectures in teaching in the subject of art in the teaching degree programme and in the degree programme of Childhood Education in the field of Aesthetic Education. She is a member of the «Research orientation in teaching» working group at the Freiburg University of Teacher Education and has completed the basic certificate in «University teaching in the context of diversity-sensitive teaching and learning». Since her studies at the Freiburg University of Teacher Education, she has performed various roles in the university’s own art workshop. She is a trained primary, secondary modern and secondary technical school teacher for the subjects of German, Art and History, and teaches at the Montessori Ganztagesschule in Lörrach, Germany and in a primary school in Freiburg, Germany. Theresa Martinetti has been a doctoral student since 2021; the current working title of her dissertation is «Die Materialität der kindlichen Assemblage. Praktiken dreidimensionale Kinderwerke aus artfekatentheoretischer und bildlicher Dimension». In 2020 and 2021, she organized the «Autonomous Teaching Art Research Loccum» for up-and-coming artists from the discipline of Teaching Art and related fields with Anja Gebauer, Jana Tiborra, Matthias Weich and Katharina Brönnecke, as well as with Annika Waffner and Johanna Marie Trautmann.

    Supervisors: Prof. Dr. Thomas Heyl (PH Freiburg), Jun.Prof. Dr. Nadia Bader (PH Freiburg) and Prof. Miriam Schmidt-Wetzel (ZHdK)

    Working title research project: «Die kindliche Assemblage. Dreidimensionale Kinderwerke als dingbezogenen kindliche Praktiken»

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  • Annette Rhiner

    Annette Rhiner has been a lecturer in teaching methods in visual arts education (Bildnerisches Gestalten) at the Chair of Art and Design Education at the Institute for Secondary Education I and II at the FHNW School of Education since 2020. She obtained her Master's degree in Art and Design Education from the Basel Academy of Art and Design FHNW, building on her previous studies in Design and Art at the Bern Academy of the Arts (HKB), and Art History at the University of Bern. From 2007 to 2016, she worked as a teacher at various secondary schools. During her time at the Berufs-, Fach- und Fortbildungsschule Bern (2017–2020), she focused on interdisciplinary skills. Her current research interest is in how resilience contributes to crisis management from an art education perspective.

    Supervisors: Jun.-Prof. Dr. Nadia Bader (PH Zürich) Prof. Dr. Julia Košinár (PH Zürich) and Prof. Dr. Thomas Heyl (PH Freiburg i. Br.)

    Working title research project: “Resilience in art education professionalisation processes: Searching for clues”

  • Raffaella Troiero

    Raffaella Troiero studied fine arts at the Accademia di Belle Arti and art history at the university in Bologna. She then obtained a further degree in communication design at the ISIA in Faenza. She has many years of teaching experience in graphic design and fine arts, which she taught both in Italy (at the Liceo Artistico in Bologna) and in Switzerland (at the Liceo Artistico in Zurich). Currently, she is a doctoral candidate at the Technical University of Dresden, where she is conducting research in the field of art education. Her doctoral project investigates how performance art practices between artificial intelligence and post-digitality can provide new impulses for the teaching of art lessons at Gymnasium. A particular focus is on the reflection of aesthetic experience in the educational process.

    Supervisor: Prof. em. Dr. paed. habil. Marie-Luise Lange (TU Dresden)

    Working title of research project: “Mit dem Unbekannten spielen. Performancekunst und neue Medien im Kunstunterricht der Sekundarstufe II im postdigitalen Zeitalter: Herausforderungen und Chancen”

  • Undine Widmer

    Undine Widmer has been working as a teacher of Fine Arts at Kantonsschule Menzingen in Zug since 2017. She has been an active member of the School Development Group in the school since 2020. From 2012 to 2017, she was a teaching assistant for the BA and MA Art Education degree programmes at Bern University of the Arts. At the same time, she was a member of the management board and worked as a teacher of Design, Art & Culture, Information & Communication at AKAD College Zurich. (From 2013 to 2014, she worked as a teacher of Art History at Gymnasium Hofwil TaF (Gifted Children’s Programme Hofwil/hkb) in Bern.) Between 2012 and 2017, she undertook freelance work as an artist (performative and mixed media practice) and as an art educator (relief teaching work, expert work, workshops). She completed her MA in Art Education at Bern University of the Arts in 2012. Beforehand, she completed a BA in Fine Arts at Central St. Martins College of Art & Design in London (2007) and an MA in Contemporary Art Theory at Edinburgh College of Art in Edinburgh (2008).

    Supervisors: Prof. Dr. Barbara Bader (ABK Stuttgart) and Prof. Dr. Magdalena Eckes (ABK Stuttgart)

    Working title research project: «Setzungen in Aufgabenstellungen und ihre Auswirkungen im Fach Kunst – eine Analyse des Potenzials von Öffnung und Einschränkung mittels gegenstandsbezogener Theoriebildung und arts-based-methods»

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  • Margot Zanni

    Margot Zanni is an art educator, artist and teacher. She is currently teaching and conducting research in the Art Education programme at Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK). After completing her training in the video department at what is now the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts, she worked as a freelance artist for 10 years and was part of the video scene in Switzerland at the time.
    Teaching experience at Zurich primary schools led to a second degree in art education at ZHdK. She then worked as an assistant in didactics and has since been a research assistant and lecturer in the same programme.
    Her teaching focuses on the interfaces between didactic and artistic modules in the BA and MA Art Education programmes. Her research interests include the history of the subject, discourse theory, action research and new materialism. She is currently writing a discourse-theoretical perspective on material-related narratives in art education in the past and present.

    Supervisors: Prof. Dr. Brigitte Sölch (University of Heidelberg) and Dr. Anna Schürch (ZHdK)

    Working title of research project: Material-related narratives (in) art education in the past and present.

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  • Jérôme Zgraggen

    Jérôme Zgraggen has been working as a lecturer in design (artistic, technical, and digital) at the University of Teacher Education St.Gallen (PHSG) since 2008. Since 2017, he has been part of the editorial team of the professional journal Werkspuren, and since 2020, he has been serving as co-editor-in-chief. In 2023, he took over as head of research and development at the newly founded Institute for Cultural and Aesthetic Education at PHSG. He completed the final diploma program for teaching professions in design and art at HGKZ / ZHdK in 2008 and earned a Master of Arts in Educational Media from the University of Duisburg-Essen in 2012.

    His main areas of interest are design pedagogy and digital design, with a particular focus on the concept of Entwerfen [designing]. Together with Regula Pöhl, he developed the educational framework “Forschend Lernen und Gestalten (FLuG)” [Inquiry-Based Learning and Designing] at PHSG and has been pursuing this topic in the context of his doctoral dissertation since 2025.

    Supervisors: Prof. Dr. Johanna Tewes (ABK Stuttgart) and Prof. Dr. Miriam Schmidt-Wetzel (ZHdK)

    Working title the research project: “Designing as a Cultural Practice in Education: A Complexity-Theoretical Observation”

Associates

  • Flurina Stuppan

    Since 2020, Flurina Stuppan has been a lecturer and subject coordinator in the Art and Image department of the Secondary I programme at the Luzern University of Teacher Education (PH Luzern). Previously, she was a guest lecturer at Zurich University of Teacher Education (PH Zurich) and University of Teacher Education Schaffhausen (PH Schaffhausen). She focuses her teaching on extracurricular learning locations, experiencing and perceiving space, and education for sustainable development. She completed a Master of Arts in Fine Arts, majoring in Art Teaching, at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts in 2019, having previously earned her Bachelor's degree in Visual Communication, specialising in Camera Arts, at the same institution. From 2008 to 2019, she worked as a primary school class teacher and a visual arts subject teacher in primary and secondary schools.

    Supervisors: Prof. Dr Stefanie Rinaldi (PH Luzern), Prof. Mario Urlass (Heidelberg University of Education), and Prof. Dr Gila Kolb (PH Schwyz).

    Working title research project: “The interrelationship between education for sustainable development and art education”

Alumni

  • Julia Matlok

    Julia Jennifer Matlok has studied Teaching Art, pre- and early history and psychoanalysis, and has been teaching the specialization of subject-specific education at the Institute for Teaching Art at Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main since 2017. Since 2021, she has been in charge of the work placement semester of the trainee teachers in the Upper Secondary Education degree programme. As a member of the Wiesbaden e.V. Women’s Workshop Association and co-author of the «Kunst mit KLASSE!» cooperation project, she has been working with the women’s museum in wiesbaden and coordinating the project’s museum-related educational work since 2016. Julia Matlok is an upper secondary school teacher and has been working as a senior teacher at Gustav-Heinemann-Schule in Rüsselsheim since 2013. She plays a major role there with regard to the development of subject-specific as well as interdisciplinary projects on student development.

    Supervisors: Prof. Dr. Georg Peez (Goethe University Frankfurt) and Prof. Dr. Miriam Schmidt-Wetzel (ZHdK)

    Working title research project: «Die Verbindung von Kunstunterricht und Museum. Konzeption, Durchführung und Evaluation einer kunstpädagogischen Kooperation unter Berücksichtigung von Intersektionalität»

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  • Claudia Mörgeli

    Claudia Mörgeli has been a lecturer in Art and Design at the Zurich University of Teacher Education (PHZH) since 2017. From 2014 to 2016, she was a research associate in Art and Design at PHZH. She completed her MA in Art Education with a specialization in “Education and Teaching” (Art Education) successfully at ZHdK in 2015, where she had completed her Bachelor in “Teaching Art and Design” in 2013. From 2001 to 2014, Claudia Mörgeli was a teacher of handicraft and drawing at Primarschule Wolfhausen as well as a mentor for textile design at the PHZH, along with subject-specific coaching in textile design for students of the PHZH.

    In 2009, she undertook the Swiss baccalaureate examination, specializing in “Psychology, Pedagogy, Philosophy” at AKAD Zurich. She worked as a teacher of handicraft at Primarschule Thalwil from 1994 to 1996, and then as a teacher of handicraft and drawing at Primarschule Wald from 1996 to 2000.

    Supervisors: Prof. Dr. Magdalena Eckes (ABK Stuttgart) and Prof. Dr. Jörg Scheller (ZHdK)

    Working title research project: “Dialogisch ästhetisch-forschendes Lernen am individuellen Artefakt”

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