Benni is intrigued by and passionate about crisis communication. At the Tactical Decision Making Research Group, his major research project aims at a better understanding of the relationship between ego depletion and the cognitive and affective portions of empathy in crisis negotiations. Beyond the psychology of interpersonal communication, his research interests include social cognition during critical and major incidents, tactical decision making in law enforcement contexts, and the pedagogy of corresponding training and education.
He served as a member of the federal crisis negotiations team of the German police and as a narcotics agent in both national and international settings. Aside from his doctoral studies at the University of Liverpool, he is diffusing crisis as a Communications Firefighter in one of North Americas largest Fire Departments and as a crisis help and suicide prevention line responder.