After being a member of the Board of Trustees at the Doemens Academy for many years, Rudolf Michel was elected Chairman in February 2019. Michel has been responsible for the development department for beverage and beer applications at the Gea technology group in Kitzingen since 2015. Doemens is one of the most prestigious national and international training institutes, specializing in education for the brewing, beverage, and food industries. For Gea, Doemens provides a key platform to enhance the global education of future decision makers with discussions on technology and industry developments. Each year, their excursions lead prospective brewmasters, brewing and beverage technologists and students of the World Brewing Academy to Gea in Kitzingen, where brewing technology has been designed and manufactured for 145 years.
Dr. Rudolf Michel, himself a trained brewer and maltster, studied brewing and beverage technology at the Technical University of Munich in Freising-Weihenstephan and did his doctorate on “the separation mechanisms of hot trub in a whirlpool”. Ever since he began his academic career, teaching has been of great importance to him. “After almost a decade of university life, I switched to the practical sphere of mechanical engineering, but I want to continue to promote curiosity, openness and knowledge transfer, and to establish a link between beginners and qualified professionals. In today’s dynamic market environment, physical laws are the only constant, everything else is changing continuously. In this way we are all still learning. I cannot imagine my work any differently”, says Michel.
As Chairman of the Board of Trustees he is committing himself to promoting an intensive exchange between the trainees and the technology company: “At Gea, we develop medium and long-term strategies for the beverage and brewing industry. This can only be achieved through cooperation with our international brewery customers. We are intent on taking a holistic approach to brewing, from raw materials to bottling, and making the brewing process energetically more sustainable.” In his new role at Doemens, Michel wants to pursue Gea´s approach of bringing industry leaders, future talent and the industry together. In addition, the Board of Trustees promotes the practical relevance and international orientation of teaching, which has been given even better training conditions by the new building project “Doemens 2020” in Gräfelfing. The Doemens school is already working with the brewery school in Wuhan, China, and with the World Brewing Academy in Chicago, USA.
