From chess to professor: psychologist Prof Dr Julian Rubel on his career
Prof Julian Rubel greets me warmly in his office. The room is bright, one wall is littered with books, the view through the window outside is directly onto a large tree. The professor of psychotherapy research and clinical psychology, who comes from near Limburg a.d. Lahn, clearly feels at home at the new psychology centre on Westerberg. The psychologist would only wish for a café on site. He has been teaching and researching at Osnabrück University for two years now. About what? One of his research interests is prevention for patients with pornography use disorder.
Could he show me the app he has developed for this? Prof Rubel immediately pulls out his mobile phone and routinely opens the ‘PornLoS’ app. ‘Here's the emergency kit’ - various symbols are clearly displayed on the smartphone screen. A photo, self-recorded audio and an emergency contact fill the first slots. For quick help when the addiction is getting to those affected, because the app acts as a companion in everyday life for those affected by pornography use disorder.
Various skills, relaxation exercises, games, puzzles and sports exercises can also be found in the app. They are designed to provide diversion and distract from the pressure of addiction. The emergency kit is just one of several functions, Prof Rubel tells me. He tells me enthusiastically about one of his research projects: the development of the PornLoS app. How it works, how exactly the app is supposed to help patients and, above all, what data can be read from it that should contribute to a better understanding of the problems and triggers of the disease. Data, statistics and analyses are an important part of studying psychology, and many a student has been surprised by them in their first years of study. For Rubel, it is precisely the statistics and data analyses that attract him to research. Even if a career in research was not initially planned.
"The decision to pursue a scientific career developed over time. I've always had a keen interest in research, but it's difficult to plan for it to develop in this way." Rubel originally enrolled in psychology to improve his chess, as psychological aspects play a major role in chess and he was an ambitious club chess player at the time. However, these ambitions faded into the background as he began his studies. His time-consuming studies and, most recently, a crucial workshop awakened his interest in research, to which he has remained true to this day.
"Chess is something that is relatively difficult to make a living from. So it was always clear that this wouldn't be the case. But I did have hopes of becoming, let's say, really good. I certainly wasn't bad, but the last few metres were certainly missing, or the last few kilometres - depending on the situation," Rubel explains and laughs. From the age of 14 to 20, he was on his way to becoming a FIDE Master, the third highest title awarded by the World Chess Federation after Grandmaster and International Master, but eventually swapped the chessboard for research.
Rubel started his career in Trier. He moved from Frickhofen, a small village in the municipality of Dornburg near the Hessian cathedral city of Limburg a. d. Lahn, to the historic city for his studies. At the beginning of 2012, he began his doctorate, which he successfully completed three years later. At the same time, he completed his psychotherapy training and then stayed in Trier for a few more years. As a post-doc, Rubel conducted research under the supervision of Prof Dr Wolfgang Lutz, interrupted by research stays in the USA and Switzerland. He worked in the psychotherapy research department of Prof. Dr Aaron Fisher in Berkeley and the psychotherapy research laboratory in Zurich under the direction of Prof. Dr Christoph Flückiger. Trier was not only a formative phase for the psychologist professionally, but also privately: Rubel met his current wife there and started a family. In 2019, he and his family moved to Giessen for a junior professorship with tenure track.
When an offer from Trier came in addition to the call to Osnabrück in 2023, a difficult decision had to be made. Back to Trier, his chosen home, where he had a good job offer and extended family, or further north to an unknown city at the University of Osnabrück? What ultimately tipped the scales was the unique opportunity to also manage the psychotherapy outpatient clinic in Osnabrück. "My research usually takes place in training outpatient clinics. Being able to implement it there was the main attraction - especially because my predecessor Prof Dr Henning Schöttke had conducted similar research in the outpatient clinic in the past and it fell on very fertile ground. There is a very good infrastructure with video recordings, questionnaire surveys etc.. I was able to dock on very well," reports Rubel.
It is important to the psychologist that his research is interesting and relevant for therapists and can therefore be directly implemented in their everyday work. Specifically, Ruble's research is about using empirical evidence to identify promising decision-making processes in psychotherapy. "For me, the focus is more on the individual. I am interested: Which therapeutic approach is the right one and for which mental illness does this apply? The majority of research only ever makes statements about group differences. We are trying to get a little closer to this. What does that mean in concrete terms for a patient sitting in front of us? We try to describe them as well as possible using data, questionnaires etc. and then look at the data we have collected in the database: What have similar patients who are already in the database benefited from?" As society and therapies are constantly changing, Rubel believes it is important to keep this database up to date. When asked what particularly appeals to him about research, he replies: "Trying to quantify and model human experience and behaviour in order to be able to make predictions for the future is somehow fascinating. We are trying to improve the psychotherapeutic approach and thus be able to help as many patients as possible at the same time."
The psychologist has now arrived. Daycare centre, work, home: everything is within cycling distance. That's just one of the reasons why he likes it so much in Osnabrück. "Everything was somehow very easy here, including the institute. The colleagues are extremely nice and were all very warm and welcoming. I was elected to the Institute Council on my first day at work," reports the Professor of Clinical Psychology. "I also found Osnabrück somehow appealing as a city. Not too big, but not too small either." For Rubel, the short distances in the city are also reflected at the university. He particularly appreciates the collegial atmosphere and the uncomplicated dialogue with the Presidential Board. All that's missing now is a café round the corner for those particularly long working days.