Frederik von Briel, PhD

Associate Professor & Research Hub Co-lead @ UQ Business School

I study how major changes in the business environment, such as economic disruptions, technological advances, regulatory shifts, and evolving industry conditions, shape opportunities, strategic choices, and outcomes for organisations of all sizes, from small start-ups to large multinationals.

As a co-lead of the Emerging Technology Research Hub, also I help strengthen UQ Business School’s capacity to provide rigorous, practice-relevant insights into how organisations can navigate technological change, identify new opportunities, and develop strategies for responsible and effective value creation.

Across my work, I am particularly interested in how organisations create and capture value when they do not simply try to cope with external change but instead embrace and leverage it. I investigate these questions across a range of empirical settings, including strategic industry sectors, digital and emerging technologies, crises and disruptions, and entrepreneurship in hostile environments.

My research is closely connected to practice. I have worked with a diverse range of industry partners, including digital hardware start-ups, manufacturing firms, business accelerators, fintech unicorns, not-for-profits, and some of the world’s largest retailers. These collaborations help ensure that my research remains grounded in real-world challenges while generating evidence-based insights that help entrepreneurs, managers, and policymakers better understand uncertainty and change, and turn them into opportunities for innovation and growth.

The impact and relevance of this work have been recognised through more than $1 million in research funding. This includes over $400,000 for my own research on topics such as digital technology advances and societal crises, including a highly competitive Australian Research Council Discovery Grant. It also encompasses over $600k in industry research funding that I was entrusted with to initiate and conduct projects targeting specific challenges faced by industry partners.

In my teaching, I heavily draw on my research to equip students to think entrepreneurially and strategically in the face of uncertainty and change. I introduce them to contemporary approaches to innovation and entrepreneurship and encourage them to apply these ideas, together with their disciplinary knowledge, to real-world challenges. My goal is to prepare students to succeed whether they build new ventures, grow existing organisations, or drive innovation from within.

Before entering academia, I worked at Hewlett-Packard, where I helped clients across industries implement more evidence-based approaches to decision-making, and IBM, where I helped key account teams to identify opportunities.

My academic training includes a PhD from City University of Hong Kong, a Master of Business Engineering from Steinbeis University Berlin, and a Bachelor of Science in Business Information Systems from Hochschule Furtwangen University.

Outside work, I am a husband, father of two girls and a dog, wellness aficionado, enjoy cooking, and love exploring nature and new places.