He had been working as a Designer for the German-based design consultancy MetaDesign before he completed his PhD in the Institute for Manufacturing’s Design Management Group at the University of Cambridge in 2013. A central aspect of Bernhard’s research is the development and application of business support tools which help to assimilate academic knowledge in industry. His research has led to the development of the 'Cambridge Sustainable Design Tool Kit' which has been extensively tested with design practitioners in industry and academia. As a Fellow at CISL, Bernhard is involved in supervision and lecturing at the Master’s in Sustainability Leadership. Bernhard is a member of the Cambridge Philosophical Society, and a founding member of Greenbridge, a Cambridge-based interdisciplinary society focussing on the sustainability of the built environment.