Personalia

Deep-sea and polar researcher Antje Boetius has been honored with two of Germany’s most prestigious awards: the Pour le mérite Order for Science and the Arts and the Grand Cross of Merit with Star. The honors recognize her outstanding achievements in marine research.

Marvin Wright has been a professor of machine learning in statistics since February 2026.

Mathias Kluge has been Professor of Medieval History within the University of Bremen's Faculty of Social Sciences since March 2025.

Tobias Röth has been a professor within the Faculty of Business Studies & Economics since April 2024. He has taken over as Chair of Business Studies, in particular Technology and Innovation.

Christian Schwarzenegger has been Professor of Media and Communication Studies with an area of focus on media change at the Centre for Media, Communication and Information Research (ZeMKI), University of Bremen since April 2024.

Charlotte Havermans has held the position of professor of marine zoology at the University of Bremen since April 2024.

Anja Becker has been a professor of German medieval studies and early modern research up to the end of the 16th century since April 2024.

Ina Hunger has been a professor of sports education and sports didactics within the Faculty of Human and Health Sciences since April 1, 2024.

Barbara Cludius has held the position of Professor of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy of the Adult Age within the Faculty of Human and Health Sciences since February 2024.

Matthias Busse has retired after 21 years as director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Technology and Advanced Materials IFAM. During this time, he also taught as a professor within Faculty 4: Production Engineering – Mechanical Engineering & Process Engineering.

Dirk Lorenz joined the University of Bremen as professor for applied and industrial mathematics at the Center for Industrial Mathematics in October 2023.

Christian Kirchmeier joined the university in October 2023 as professor for contemporary German literature.

Arne Peters joined the university in October 2023 as professor for anthropological linguistics / cultural linguistics within the Faculty of Linguistics and Literary Studies.

Since October 2023, Julia Geneuss has been a professor of criminal law, criminal procedure law, international and European criminal law, criminal information law, and comparative law at the University of Bremen.

Markus Tepe is a professor for the political system of the Federal Republic of Germany with an emphasis on the theory and empirics of the welfare state at SOCIUM – Research Center on Inequality and Social Policy.

In August 2023, Katharina Reiling assumed a professorship for public law in the Faculty of Law.

Nadira Faber has been a professor of social psychology with business and organizational psychology within the Faculty of Human and Health Sciences since April 2023.

Sophia Hunger has been a professor of computational social science at the University of Bremen since May 2023.

In July 2023, Amir Ebrahimi took on the role of head of the Department of Electrical Drives and Power Electronics at the Institute of Electrical Drives, Power Electronics and Devices within the Faculty of Physics / Electrical Engineering.

Michael Sentef has been a professor of theoretical solid-state physics in the Faculty of Physics / Electrical Engineering since April 2023.

Dr. Julia Borst has received the 2023 Abioseh Porter Best Essay Award from the African Literature Association.

Laura Neumann has held the positions of professor of criminal law, criminal procedure law, as well as commercial law since April 2023.

Benjamin Müller has been a professor in the Faculty of Business Studies & Economics since April 2022.

Stephanie Geise has been a professor of communication and media sciences with a focus on methodological innovation in the Faculty of Cultural Studies since October 2022.

Matthew Nielsen has been a Junior Professor in the Faculty of Biology/Chemistry since May 2023, studying the ecology and evolution of butterflies.

Christian Wild, Professor of Marine Ecology, has received the prestigious Mid-Career Scientist Award from the International Coral Reef Society (ICRS).

Melanie Böckmann has held the position of Professor of Global Health in the Faculty of Human and Health Sciences since February 2023.

Louisa Kulke has held the position of Professor of Developmental Psychology and Educational Psychology within the Faculty of Human and Health Sciences since April 2023.

ZMT Managing Director Raimund Bleischwitz has been Professor of Global Sustainable Resources by the University of Bremen since February 2023.

The German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft – DFG) has reappointed MARUM's deputy director, Prof. Dr. Monika Rhein, as chair of the National Committee for Polar Research (NK SCAR-IASC). The newly composed committee will start in January 2023

The University of Bremen and the Faculty of Physics / Electrical Engineering mourn the loss of Professor Hannelore Schwedes. The physicist and microbiologist has now passed away at the age of 84.

Hartmut Boesch has been a professor at the Institute of Environmental Physics at the University of Bremen since November 2022.

Since October 2022, Björn Niehaves has held the role of professor of information systems with a focus on digitization in public administration.

Anna Moldenhauer has been Professor of School Theory and School Development in the Faculty of Pedagogy and Educational Sciences since October 2022.

Professor Rebekka v. Mallinckrodt (historian of the early modern period) has received two honors: an Opus Magnum grant from the Volkswagen Foundation and election to the Hamburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities.

Annelies Blom has been Professor of Sociology and Quantitative Methods of Empirical Social Research since September 2022.

Daniela Fuhr has been professor of implementation research and evidence-based prevention at the Faculty of Human and Health Sciences since July 2022.

Swantje Weinhold has been professor of didactics of the German language and literature for elementary and primary education at the Faculty of Pedagogy and Educational Sciences since April 2022.

Since April 2022, Christoph Kulgemeyer has held the position of Professor of Didactics of Physics within the Faculty of Physics/Electrical Engineering. There he also leads the working group Didactics of Physics.

Daniel Walter has been a Junior Professor of Didactics of Mathematics with a focus on primary and elementary education within the Faculty of Pedagogy and Educational Sciences since March 2022.

Bremen biologist Michael Schirmer has received the Federal Cross of Merit for his many years of volunteer work. He previously taught aquatic ecology at the University of Bremen.

Dian Schefold - a professor in the Faculty of Law at the University of Bremen until 2001- has now been awarded the Federal Cross of Merit. On behalf of the Federal President, he was presented with it by Mayor Dr. Andreas Bovenschulte, who himself had earned his doctorate under Schefold’s supervision

Ruth Schilling is the new managing director of the German Maritime Museum (DSM) / Leibniz Institute of Maritime History. This was decided by the Foundation Board.

Professor Rolf Knieper - a university lecturer within the Faculty of Law at the University of Bremen until 2006 - has been awarded the Gold Medal of Tbilisi State University. This is the highest award that the university in the Georgian capital can bestow.

Ella Schmidt has held the role of Assistant Professor of Crystallography and Geomaterials Research within the Faculty of Geosciences since February 2022.

Since January 2022, Professor Raimund Bleischwitz has held the position of scientific director of the Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Research (ZMT) in Bremen. The economist and social scientist succeeds Dr. Werner Ekau, who has been acting scientific director since July 2020.

Prof. Klaus Mävers has passed away at the age of 92. He taught music pedagogy at the Bremen PH since 1968 and from 1971 onwards, he helped to establish and significantly shape the music degree course at the University of Bremen.

Rolf Drechsler, Professor of Computer Architecture within the Faculty of Mathematics / Computer Science and head of the Cyber-Physical Systems group at the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI), was honored by the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) in December 2021.

Professor Horst Schecker from the University of Bremen will receive the Georg Kerschensteiner Prize for the significant role he played in establishing skill-building physics lessons and his contributions to the development and research of new concepts and media.

The cultural scholar Laura McAdam-Otto has received the 2021 Augsburg Science Award for Intercultural Studies (“Augsburger Wissenschaftspreis für interkulturelle Studien 2021”) for her PhD.

Weizenbaum Thesis Award Goes to Dr. Hendrik Heuer. His doctoral dissertation entitled “Users & Machine learning-Based Curation Systems” received the first prize.

Dr. Sergej Tretiak from the Los Alamos National Laboratory, who is currently a guest at the Bremen Center for Computational Materials Science (BCCMS) and the Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg, has been honored with the Alexander von Humboldt Research Award.

For her PhD dissertation “’That is My Profession’: Occupational Culture and Occupational Identities of Seafarers in the Global Merchant Fleet,” Marie Grasmeier received the 2021 Jörg Huffschmid Prize.

In November 2021, Angie Schneider took on the role of Professor of Civil Law with a focus on family law, labor law, social law, as well as gender studies within the Faculty of Law.

Herbert Obinger was received an honorary doctorate from the University of Southern Denmark (Syddansk Universitet, Odense), where he already held the role of visiting professor.

In October 2021, Anastasios Stefanou took on the role of Assistant Professor of Mathematical Foundations of Data Analysis at the ALTA Institute within the Faculty of Mathematics / Computer Science at the University of Bremen.

In October 2021, Karen Struve took on the role of Professor of French Romance Literary Studies. She herself studied cultural and Romance studies.

Björn Lüssem took on the role of professor at the Institute for Microsensors, -actuators and -systems (IMSAS) in September 2021.

Hans Heinrich Maaß-Radziwill passed away at the age of 85 in August 2021. The legal scholar was the first Director of Finance and Administration at the University of Bremen after its establishment in 1971.

Heidi Schelhowe passed away in August 2021 at the age of 72 years. Between 2011 and 2014, she held the position of Vice President Academic at the University of Bremen.

Andrea Muehlebach has held the role of Professor of Maritime Anthropology and Cultures of Water within the Department of Anthropology and Cultural Research at the University of Bremen since August 2021.

Ingo Eilks from the Faculty of Biology / Chemistry was awarded the title of MINT Ambassador of the Year 2021.

Jeff Bale, an educational scientist from the University of Toronto, has been awarded a research fellowship by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and took this opportunity to stay in Bremen in June 2021.

In May 2021, Ansgar Gerhardus from the Institute of Public Health and Nursing Research (IPP) was appointed a member of the advisory board for the further development of public health services by the Federal Health Minister Jens Spahn.

Since May 2021, Vera Schlindwein has held the role of Professor of Polar and Marine Seismology within the Faculty of Geosciences at the University of Bremen.

Since April, Kerstin Brandes has held the position of professor of visual culture at the Institute for Art History – Film Studies – Art Education. She previously filled in for this professorship. Kerstin Brandes studied art and English in Oldenburg and Leeds.

In April, Sarah Brommer took on the role of professor of applied linguistics with a focus on text production research. After studying in Freiburg, one of the things she then researched at the University of Zurich was the influence of digital writing on writing bound by standards.

The historian Veronika Settele is one of this year’s winners of the German Thesis Award (“Deut- scher Studienpreis”) from the Körber Foundation.

The chemical and process engineer Dr. Cleis Santos from Madrid Institute for Advanced Studies (IMDEA), Materials Institute, will work as a scholarship holder on the Revamping the Desalination Battery project (REDEBA).

As a Marie Sklodowska Curie Program scholar- ship holder, the media scientist Dr. Çiğdem Bozdağ from the Kadir Has University Istanbul will be staying at the Faculty of Pedagogy and Educational Sciences until the middle of 2023.

In March 2021, Jan-Hendrik Hehemann took on the role of professor of carbon sequestration and glycobiochemistry. He researches the relevance of algae polysaccharides in marine substance flows

In March, Daniel Schmand took on the role of assistant professor of discrete optimization at the Center for Industrial Mathematics. Prior to this, he studied mathematics at the TU Berlin and completed his PhD within the Faculty of Mathematics, Computer Science and Natural Sciences at RWTH Aachen.

Since February, Marvin Wright has held the position of Professor of Machine Learning in Statistics. The appointment took place within the frame of a cooperative professorship together with the Leibniz Institute for Prevention Research and Epidemiology – BIPS.

Krasimira Aleksandrova has been a professor of methods in molecular epidemiology since January. She is also the deputy head of the Department of Epidemiological Methods and Etiological Research at the Leibniz Institute for Prevention Research and Epidemiology – BIPS.

Anne Levin and Andreas Grünewald have received a Tandem Fellowship from Stifterverband and the Baden-Württemberg Foundation.

The Federal Ministry of Education and Research appointed Jutta Günther as the chair of the Advisory Board for Research Data Collection of German Economy.

Yvonne Rogers from University College London (UCL), an Excellence Chair holder within the Faculty of Mathematics / Computer Science at the University of Bremen, received the Suffrage Science Award.

Since November, Birte Berger-Höger has held the position of Assistant Professor for Nursing Science at the Institute of Public Health and Nursing Research. She is taking over the leadership of the Department for Evaluation and Implementation Research in Nursing Science.

Christoph Kulgemeyer, who has been an adjunct lecturer at the Institute of Science Education at the University of Bremen since 2012, accepted the appointment as a W3 professor of didactics of physics at Paderborn University.

Prof. Dr. Thomas Hoffmeister, vice president academic at the University of Bremen, was appointed a member of the Standing Committee for Studies and Teaching.

In the winter semester 2020/21, Prof. Dr. Patrick C. Leyens, LL.M. (London) accepted the appointment for the Professorship for Civil, commercial, and Company Law.

Since October, Andrea Daase has been a Professor of German as a Second/Foreign Language. Prior to taking on this role, she filled in for this professorship for three semesters. Daase studied German as a foreign language, Spanish, Latin American studies, and sociology at Bielefeld University.

Since September, Sebastian Fehrler has been a professor for the field of economy of social politics at SOCIUM. The research and teaching of his working groups focuses on two areas.

Since June, Rainer Fechte-Heinen has held the roles of Professor of Material Engineering/Metals, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Leibniz Institute for Material Engineering (IWT), and Director of the Bremen State Institute for Material Testing.

Dr. Audrey Morley, a geoscientist from the National University of Ireland, Galway, is carrying out research at MARUM – Center for Marine Environmental Sciences at the University of Bremen until the end of August.

Within the #KI50: Artificial Intelligence in Germany project by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, PhD student Ankit Kariryaa from the Faculty of Mathematics/Computer Science was nominated as an AI newcomer and was named one of the top ten talents.

Cornelius Puschmann is a professor of communication and media science with a focus on digital communication at ZeMKI, Centre for Media, Communication and Information research.

Professor Ron Kikinis, the former director of the Fraunhofer MEVIS Institute for Digital Medicine in Bremen, has accepted an appointment at the renowned Harvard Medical School in the USA. Hewill teach there as the B. Leonard Holman Endowed Professor of Radiology.

Two software technicians from the Center for Computing Technologies (TZI) at the University of Bremen received the Most Influential Paper Award at the SANER 2020 conference in London (Canada).

Professor Hildegard Westphal left her position as scientific director, and thus as part of the Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Research (ZMT) management board, in July. After working in the role for ten years, she is handing the scientific lead over.

In January 2020, Dr. Irene Dingeldey took on the role as the new director of the Institute of Labour and Economy (iaw). The social scientist has been working at the University of Bremen for 20 years.

Since June, Alisha M.B. Heinemann has consolidated her appointed professorship in pedagogy with a focus of educational paths and diversity.

The research team of PD Dr. Gazanfer Belge Faculty of Biology/Chemistry and the Hamburg urology professor Klaus-Peter Dieckmann received the Maximilian Nitze Prize at the 71st Congress of the German Urology Association.

Professor Ingrid Darmann-Finck from the Institute for Public Health and Nursing Research at the University of Bremen received the German Care Prize (“Deutscher Pflegepreis”) for her pioneering work in the field of care pedagogy and care didactics.

The expertise of the gambling researcher Dr. Tobias Hayer from the University of Bremen is sought after in specialist committees and the political sector. The psychologist has been appointed a member of the seven-person advisory board on gambling.

In May, Andrei Yakovlev from the Higher School of Economics Moscow was named a Research Ambassador. In this function, he represents the University of Bremen abroad, especially in Russia and East Europe.

Professor Kerstin Knopf was chosen as President Elect for the International Council for Canadian Studies (ICCS), which is located in Ottawa. From June 2021, she will lead the organization’s work as president for two years.

Since April, Andreas Rademacher has held the position of professor of mathematical modelling and head of the Modelling and Scientific Computing Working Group at the Center for Industrial Mathematics (ZeTeM), University of Bremen. Rademacher studied mathematics at the University of Dortmund.

The educational researcher and theater director Jörg Holkenbrink passed away at the age of 64 years in April.

Since April, Andreas Breiter has been the first Chief Digital officer (CDO) of the University of Bremen. His role involves the promotion of digitalization in teaching, research, and administration.

Jutta Günther took on the role of Vice President Research in April. She is succeeding the computer science professor Andreas Breiter.

Wiebke Schulz has been assistant professor of sociology of inequality and social structure analysis since March. She studied sociology in Bremen, Liverpool, and Utrecht.

Professor Manfred Fahle passed away at the age of 69 years in February. Fahle connected many scientific disciplines: He studied medicine, biology, and philosophy. His particular interest was the visual perception and processing in the brain.

Since February, Professor Lars Hornuf has held the professorship for business administration, in particular financial services and financial technology at the Faculty of Business Studies & Economics.

Since February 2020, Ruth Schilling has held the position of Professor of Communication of Museum-Related History of Science within the History Department of the Faculty of Social Sciences.

The computer scientist Professor Tanja Schultz was named an IEEE fellow.

As the head of the Qualiservice research data center, which is part of SOCIUM, Professor Betina Hollstein was appointed member (2020-2023) of the German Data Forum (RatSWD) by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research.

Simon Lewis took on the role of assistant professor of the cultural history of East and East-Central Europe at the Institute of European Studies, University of Bremen.

Since January, Natascha Korff has been a professor of inclusive education with a focus on didactics within the Faculty of Pedagogy and Educational Sciences.

Professor Yasemin Karakaşoğlu was voted onto the Executive Committee of the German Aca- demic Exchange Service (DAAD) for the second time. The former vice president international and diversity began her term in office on January 01, 2020.

Ruth Abramowski, a postdoctoral staff member at SOCIUM, received two prizes for her doctoral dissertation. She received a prize from the Austrian Association of Sociology (ÖGS) in the subject area of family sociology and also the AK Science Prize 2019 from the Salzburg Chamber of Labor.

The religious studies scholar Prof. Dr. Gritt Klinkhammer was appointed a member of the German Islam Conference (DIK) Advisory Board.

Dr. Julia Borst, a postdoctoral researcher in the field of romance studies in the Faculty of Linguistics and Literary Studies and vice spokesperson of the Institute for Postcolonial and Transcultural Studies (INPUTS).

Since November 2019, Frank Oliver Glöckner has been a professor for the field of earth systems data science within the Faculty of Geosciences. His appointment was made in cooperation with the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI).

The early career researcher Dr. Peer Woizeschke from Bremen was honored for his research in the field of lightweight engineering for laser- based production of multi-mate- rial structures.

Thomas Laepple has also been a professor of earth system diagnostics within the Faculty of Geosciences since November 2019. His appointment was made in cooperation with the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI).

The romance scholar PD Dr. Karen Struve received the Elise Richter Prize from the German Society of Romance Philology in October 2019 for her post- doctoral thesis Wild Knowledge in the “Encyclopédie.”

Joris Lammers has been a professor of social psychology and labor and organizational psychology within the Faculty of Human and Health Sciences since October 2019.

Professor Sebastian Siebertz took over the Theoretical Computer Science working group within the Faculty of Mathematics/Computer Science in September 2019. After having grown up in Cologne, Siebertz studied computer science at RWTH Aachen until 2011.

Anja Starke has been a professor of inclusive pedagogy with a focus on language within the Faculty of Pedagogy and Educational Sciences since September 2019. She studied rehabilitation pedagogy and clinical linguistics at the universities in Dortmund and Bielefeld.

Since August 2019, Janine Kirstein has been a newly appointed professor of cell biology within the Faculty of Biology/ Chemistry. She studied biology at the University of Greifswald and subsequently moved to Heidelberg for her PhD and then to Berlin.

Aseem Kinra has been a professor of global supply chain management within the Faculty of Business Studies & Economics since May 2019.

The psychology professor Markus Janczyk received this year’s science prize for early career researchers from the Wilhelm Wundt Society. The prize is awarded for outstanding achievements in foundation research within the field of psychology.

Michael Rochlitz has been professor of economics with a focus on institutional economics within the Faculty of Business Studies & Economics at the University of Bremen since April 2019. He studied development studies and development economics in Paris and London.