Ralf Brand has a Diplom (~ M.A.) in Human Geography and a Ph.D. in Community and Regional Planning. During his 14 years in academia he heavily involved in multiple research Projects - often in a leading role. On overview of his publications is available at https://scholar.google.de/citations?user=N-4vNWMAAAAJ&hl=de&oi=ao. All his work is inspired by the research tradition of "Science and Technology Studies" (STS), which considers technical, societal and political Change as inherently linked. This informed Brand's holistic approach to sustainable urban development as necessarily integrated and synergistic efforts across disciplines and sectors.

Ralf Brand has a formal, MA-equivalent degree in higher education teaching (PGCHET), which informed and inspired his educational work at Queen’s University Belfast and Manchester University, where his teaching evaluation results always were above the average of his institutional unit. Brand is convinced that learning can only be effective if it connected to every learner's individual system of meaning. This explains his usage of highly interactive teaching techniques, P2P Exchange, learning-by-doing etc. He is sceptical of "cookie-cutter" style transfer approaches and instead prefers take-up strategies through direct interaction, which focus on deep understanding instead of blind copying.