Eva Ullmann

During her short and succinct studies in education, Eva Ullmann discovered the powerful effects of theatre. She quickly focused on communication: what makes good conversations better than bad ones? Why do some people interact with fewer misunderstandings than others?

In the course of her studies, she began an affair with humour, and she’s been faithfully devoted ever since. In turn, humour led her to hospital clowns in Berlin, Hamburg, Leipzig and Canada. She also worked on a project on company humour in Hamburg.
Eva Ullmann finished her studies with a paper on provocation and laughter. The news magazine STERN voted it paper of the month. Others wanted to buy the insightful work, she gave way. One should not resist the forces of nature and fate, after all. So Eva Ullmann dedicated herself to the study and to the teaching of humour.

Humour as a resource is successfully ignored – or even wholly undesired – in many companies and institutions. Yet humour is obviously effective in a number of ways. These appalling conditions led to the founding of the German Institute for Humour in 2005. It is built on a combination of science, training and, above all, humour. 

157 has been voted number of the year, because this is the number of times that Eva’s father has asked how exactly his daughter now earns her living.
In her job, Eva Ullmann constantly learns new and exciting things. And she thinks it great fun not to take herself all too seriously.

Selective CV

• Humour research since 2001, Diploma Thesis “Can Humour change your communication?”
• Workshop with Tiki Küstenmacher for effective and visual knowledge-management
• Seminars in “provocative Style” with Höfner / Farelly (USA)
• Seminars with the Institute of Medical Psychology of the University of Leipzig
• Humour trainings in companies, institutions and organisations, 2002
• Member of HumorCare e.V. Germany, 2004
• German Institute of Humour (Leipzig), founded in August 2005
• ImbH- Improvisation theatre, founded in 2005, on stage since March 2006