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We are excited to introduce Selina Stracke, a PhD student who recently visited us here down under, all the way from the Technical University of Munich, Germany.


Get to know Selina through our short Q&A and learn more about her research.


⭐️Tell me a bit about yourself?

I am Selina, 29, living in Munich. I have a passion for the stories of other people, so I love listening about their experiences, mindsets etc. I also love Australia, it seems like the perfect mix of diversity, productive work, chilled places, awesome people, and, obviously amazing beaches.


⭐️What will you do / are you doing at CTWD / FOWI?

Connected with amazing people, talked about research but also other things. Primarly, I investigated the potential impact of AI on team effectiveness.


⭐️How did you find the experience?

I loved my experience at FOWI, especially the fact that there were many social events that made me feel comfortable with most of the people really quickly.


⭐️What does the future of work look like to you?

I hope that the future of work will look like the perfect balance of work and life, where borders are really clear. This will be achieved through shorter work weeks, more flexibility, but also lots of opportunities to socialize still.


⭐️If you were a book or a movie, what would it be?

Probably Siddhartha from Hermann Hesse – constantly on the search for new things about myself.


⭐️One thing not many people know about you?

I participated in a robot world cup at some point with my team (just did the research part though)!





Selina's seminar, titled "Immersed in Negativity: The Concept and Effects of Collective Rumination in Teams," delves into the emerging field of collective rumination and its impact on organizational outcomes.


Here’s an overview of what was covered in her research seminar:


Research on collective rumination has recently been proposed to affect organizational outcomes. However, the extent to which collective rumination manifests in teams and consequently affects their functioning has yet to be explored. Therefore, this research investigates collective rumination in teams, defined as excessive and repetitive discussions about work-related problems.


First, based on rumination theory and exploratory semi-structured interviews, we aim to propose a conceptual model of collective rumination in teams and identify its core dimensions. Second, drawing on the theory of group emotions, we build and test a research model about collective rumination and its impact on team functioning.


To investigate our model, we developed and validated a 15-item measure of collective rumination through three studies involving 720 team members (Studies 1 & 2) and 58 teams (Study 3). We are now about to test it in a three-wave study with 40 teams (Study 4). Our results show that collective rumination in teams is negatively related to team cohesion, team work engagement, and team performance, partly mediated by team negative affect.


Our work contributes to the rumination and group (emotion) literature and informs practice on how to identify and counteract collective rumination in work teams.


We are thrilled to have Selina share her research and insights with us. We look forward to seeing her thrive in the field of work design and team effectiveness research.



We are delighted to have hosted Wiebke Roling at the Centre! Wiebke is a PhD student from the Faculty of Psychology at Ruhr University Bochum in Germany. We had the opportunity to sit down for a brief Q&A to learn more about her and her research.


⭐️Tell me a bit about yourself?

I am a doctoral candidate in the field of work and organizational psychology at Ruhr University Bochum in Germany. My research interest is focused on how to support people when they have to adapt to change in the workplace.


⭐️What will you do / are you doing at CTWD / FOWI?

The goal of my visit was to meet the researchers at FOWI, learn more about their work, and identify overlaps and research gaps for future research and possible collaborations.


⭐️How did you find the experience?

I really enjoyed my time at FOWI! It was great to meet so many inspiring researchers!


⭐️What does the future of work look like to you?

The way how we work changes. The world of work is more dynamic and agile, the use of technology and automation increases, and a high level of flexibility and adaptability is essential.


⭐️If you were a book or a movie, what would it be?

Good question… I have no idea!


⭐️One thing not many people know about you?

I love to go swimming.






During her visit, Wiebke presented a seminar about her PhD research titled "Adapting to Change in the Workplace: Research on Factors that Facilitate or Hinder Adaptation Processes". The seminar was a deep dive into the critical factors that influence how employees adapt to changes in their work environment.


Here’s an overview of what was covered:

Adaptability and flexibility have become increasingly important since new technologies and innovation have caused frequent changes for people at work. People are required to adapt to those changes and forget the knowledge and behavior that has recently become obsolete. The research presented in this talk focuses on factors that facilitate or hinder adaptation processes, and the question of how organizations can support their employees during a change. Theoretical assumptions, methodological approaches, and first results of empirical studies were presented and discussed.


We thank Wiebke for her time and contributions, and we look forward to the advancements in understanding workplace adaptability that her research will undoubtedly bring.





Our Centre had the pleasure of hosting Michela Carraro, a PhD candidate in organizational behavior from the University of Padova in Italy.


During her visit, Michela presented her research on worker perceptions accuracy and the role of job autonomy in operations.


We caught up with Michela to learn more about her experience at FOWI, her thoughts on the future of work, and a surprising childhood dream.


Tell me a bit about yourself?

In 2019, I graduated in Business Administration at the Department of Economics and Management, University of Padova. After my graduation, I immediately started my PhD in organizational behavior at the same university and I am currently preparing to defend my dissertation on “Coordinating minds and behaviors in the shop floor”.




What will you do / are you doing at CTWD / FOWI?

I presented my research on the antecedents of perception accuracy at one of the FOWI internal seminars and collected a lot of feedback that helped me improving my work. I also started a new collaboration with Dr. Fangfang Zhang and Prof. Sharon Parker to study the relationship between digital technologies (AR) and job crafting.


How did you find the experience?

I loved being at FOWI. FOWI is a place full of energy and enthusiasm, where anyone can contribute with ideas and feel part of the team. Visiting FOWI and meeting such a wonderful team inspired me a lot. I was impressed in particular by the coherence of FOWI: doing research on how to design good jobs is not only aimed at publishing or giving instructions to external practitioners, rather it is an internal mission.


What does the future of work look like to you?

To me, the future of work is all about the integration between human beings and technologies. In the past, there used to be the idea that one day technological developments would have completely replaced human beings. However, technologies cannot exist without human beings thinking of, designing, setting, maintaining, and assigning goals to them. Of course, technological developments are changing the ways works are done but human beings remain at the center of work. And human beings have different and much more complex capabilities and needs relative to technologies. I think that bearing this in mind is fundamental to design sustainable future works.


One thing not many people know about you?

My dream as a child was to become Miss Italia.



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The Centre for Transformative Work Design

is part of the Future of Work Institute at Curtin University.

© 2025 Centre for Transformative Work Design​​

The Centre acknowledges Whadjuk Nyungar people who remain Custodians of the lands on which we research, learn and collaborate.

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