Dr. Kühnel is a theoretical physicist at the Max Planck Institute for Physics (MPP), specialising in high-energy physics and cosmology with a focus on the quantum aspects of black holes and their non-stellar origins. He has significantly advanced the study of primordial black holes as an observational science, particularly following LIGO's gravitational-wave discoveries.

His seminal 2016 paper, Primordial Black Holes as Dark Matter, has acquired over 1,000 citations and initiated a new wave of research, establishing him as an internationally recognised expert whose work being cited several thousand times. He has proposed novel quantum aspects of black holes that may offer promising avenues for detecting quantum effects in future observations.

Committed to education and scientific communication, Dr. Kühnel has delivered over 90 invited talks and taught at institutions like the KTH Royal Institute of Technology and the Les Houches Summer School on Dark Matter. He has supervised several students, secured fellowships—including the Oskar Klein Fellowship—and obtained funding exceeding €400,000.

He has led international working groups and organised major conferences, notably founding and organising the highest-profile international scientific meeting in the field of 2024: Black Holes & Cosmology 2024, featuring Nobel Laureate Prof. Reinhard Genzel. Dr. Kühnel serves on several advisory committees and is a member of the Euclid Collaboration. He also contributes to the Encyclopedia of Astrophysics, and has several book and book-chapter publications.

Passionate about public outreach, his talks and online content have reached broad audiences, with videos about his work garnering over one million views. With his unique scientific expertise and research potential in an area currently experiencing an explosion of activity due to its unparalleled rôle in linking fundamental physics, cosmology, and astronomy, Dr. Kühnel is positioned at the forefront of research in this future Nobel Prize-winning field. Given that the objects of his primary research focus—primordial black holes—appear to be on the verge of discovery, potentially solving one of humanity's greatest questions in their rôle as dark matter, his work stands to make significant contributions to our understanding of the Universe.