Kristian is an Associate Professor at Monash University, jointly appointed in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering and the Drug Delivery, Disposition and Dynamics (D4) Theme at the Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences (MIPS). He currently serves as Deputy Theme Leader of D4 and as a Director of the Australian Chapter of the Controlled Release Society (AUS-CRS). Kristian is an Editor of the European Polymer Journal and on the Advisory Boards of Macromolecular Rapid Communications, Macromolecular Chemistry and Physics, and RSC Applied Polymers.

Kristian studied chemistry at the Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena (Germany) and the Eindhoven University of Technology (The Netherlands). In 2010 he was a visiting researcher in the group of Professor Craig J. Hawker (University of California, Santa Barbara) before he completed his Ph.D. at the end of 2011 under the supervision of Professor Ulrich S. Schubert in Jena. In 2012 Kristian received a prestigious Alexander von Humboldt-fellowship to conduct research in the groups of Professor Frank Caruso (The University of Melbourne) and Professor David M. Haddleton/ Professor Thomas P. Davis (Monash University). In mid-2014 Kristian was appointed to the position of Senior Research Fellow at the University of Warwick (UK) to work alongside Professor Haddleton. Since joining Monash in 2016, Kristian has built an internationally regarded research program focused on the development of biocompatible, biodegradable, and sustainable polymeric materials for advanced drug delivery and biomedical applications.

His research has been recognised with several prestigious fellowships and awards, including an Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship(2012–2014), an NHMRC–ARC Dementia Research Development Fellowship (2016–2020), an ARC Future Fellowship (2020–2024), MIPS Future Research Leader Award (2021), the Mid-Career European Polymer Journal Award (2024) and the David Sangster Science and Technology Award (2025).