Dr. Daniel Kofahl holds a degree in sociology from the University of Trier, where he specialized in the sociology of consumption, communication, media, and culture, with an additional focus on economics. From 2008 to 2012, he served as a research associate at the Department of Organic Food Quality and Food Culture at the University of Kassel. In 2014, he earned his PhD under the supervision of Prof. Angelika Ploeger (University of Kassel) and Prof. Dirk Baecker (Zeppelin University Friedrichshafen), with a dissertation on “The Complexity of Nutrition in Contemporary Society.”  From 2014 to 2016, he conducted research at the University of Trier within a DFG-funded project on “Digital Self-Tracking in the Context of Nutrition,” focusing on emerging smartphone-based diet tracking practices. From 2018 to 2020, he was involved in a citizen science project at the Technical University of Berlin, exploring “The Practice and Aesthetics of Eating.” 

Dr. Kofahl has taught courses on “Sociology of Nutrition,” “Nutrition Education,” “Nutritional Ethnology,” “Rural Sociology,” “Agricultural and Food Policy,” “Sociology of Rural Development,” “Organic Viticulture,” and “Social Science Research Methods” at a variety of academic institutions, including the University of Cologne, University of Vienna, Paris Lodron University of Salzburg, University of Trier, Burg Giebichenstein University of Art and Design Halle (Department of Design), Technical University of Berlin, University of Bielefeld, Baden-Württemberg Cooperative State University (DHBW), Fulda University of Applied Sciences, University of Applied Sciences for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (FHM), and the German Nutrition Society (DGE). 

He has also collaborated with private sector companies and public institutions, including the Goethe-Institut Paris, Die Lebensmittelwirtschaft e.V., the German Confectionery Industry Association (BDSI), the REWE Group, the Workers’ Center Königswinter, the Central Technical School of the German Confectionery Industry, the German Society of Food Technologists (GDL), the food journalism platform Sternefresser, and other clients. 

Since October 2013, Dr. Kofahl has served as the spokesperson for the Working Group on Culinary Ethnology within the German Association for Social and Cultural Anthropology (DGSKA). His international research stays have included fieldwork in Bali (Indonesia) and Vietnam (Ho Chi Minh City and Hội An). 

He is a certified trainer for FIAN (FoodFirst Information and Action Network), a global human rights organization focusing on the right to food. He has also acted as an external reviewer for the Federal Foundation for the Reappraisal of the SED Dictatorship and as an independent expert for the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).

Contact: Kofahl[at]APEK-Consult.de

Follow Dr. Daniel Kofahl on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/danielkofahl/