Karl Beecher is a research associate at the Institute of Computer Science, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany.

He obtained his PhD from the University of Lincoln, UK in 2009, where his main research interest thesis concerned the evolution of FLOSS (Free/Libre/Open Source Software). Now he has a proper job on the Saros Project which involves research into both FLOSS and Agile Methods. His duties include sharing responsibility for coordinating Saros and also being its Chief Architect.