Moritz Petersen is an Assistant Professor of Sustainable Supply Chain Practice at Kühne Logistics University (KLU) in Hamburg. He is also the Director of KLU's Center for Sustainable Logistics and Supply Chains (CSLS). In this capacity, Moritz focuses his research, teaching and outreach activities on two main areas: (1) driving the decarbonization of logistics and (2) advancing the Circular Economy, each through operational, behavioral, and technological measures. Before starting his tenure at KLU, Moritz studied Industrial Engineering and Management and subsequently joined the Hamburg University of Technology as a doctoral student. He finished his doctorate under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Kersten and joined KLU in 2016. 

In his research, Moritz strives to co-create impactful results with partners from industry, academia, and international organizations while maintaining academic rigor. With his team of PhD students, he frequently carries out publicly funded research projects. For example, Moritz investigates effective supply chain configurations for polymer recycling within the European Horizon 2020 project CREAToR. Another example is the GATE project, funded by the German Federal Ministry of Economy, where he works towards improving GHG emissions data exchange between shippers and carriers. Further, Moritz collaborates with international organizations such as the Smart Freight Centre and the World Bank on advancing methods and tools within the logistics domain. His work appears in renowned journals such as IEEE TEM or IJOPM, where he was also awarded the 2020 Best Paper Award for his work on sustainability considerations in product development.  

Moritz teaches courses on topics like Supply Chain Sustainability, Circular Product Development, and Lean Logistics Operations in KLU’s degree programs from the Bachelor to the MBA level. He further teaches short courses on these topics to diverse audiences, from logistics executives to elementary school kids. Moritz is an ITP – International Teachers Program alumni driven by a desire to inspire and help drive change. To make his course contents tangible, Moritz regularly integrates interactive elements like Virtual Reality, factory simulations, learning games, or disassembly workshops for electronics products into the curriculum.

Being a firm believer in academia’s responsibility to disseminate research to external audiences, Moritz greatly emphasizes outreach activities. He frequently appears as a speaker or panelist in industry events such as Deutscher Logistik-Kongress, Logistics Summit or Deutscher Nachhaltigkeitspreis. He further engages in media work and writes articles and comments for practitioner-focused publications. Moritz also pursues non-typical outreach activities. For example, he co-creates a children’s book around logistics and co-hosts the bi-weekly interview podcast “Das Gleiche in Grün?!” where he discusses developments and best practices at the intersection of logistics and sustainability.