Professor Dr Bettina Rockenbach has been elected as the new President of the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina. The Leopoldina Senate elected the economist from the University of Cologne today in a secret ballot. Rockenbach will take over from Professor Dr Gerald Haug on 1 March 2025. The palaeoclimatologist has directed the Academy since 2020 and is stepping down after one term of office. Rockenbach will be the 28th Leopoldina President. She is the first woman to head the Academy. The handing-over ceremony will take place on Friday, 21 February 2025 in Halle (Saale).
“Bettina Rockenbach is an excellent representative of her field. She has gained a wealth of experience in science management due to her previous positions as the long-standing Vice-Rector for Research and Innovation of the University of Cologne and as a member of the DFG Senate. She has an excellent network both in German academia and internationally,” said Gerald Haug after the election.
After her election, Bettina Rockenbach said: “I would like to thank the Senate of the Leopoldina for the trust they have placed in me through their election. As President of the Academy, I look forward to continuing the successful work of my predecessors and at the same time setting new objectives. I would like to build on the outstanding work of Gerald Haug and raise public awareness of the Leopoldina even more. As the German Academy of Sciences, the Leopoldina is one of the top addresses for independent academic debate in Germany for policy makers and other social actors. I would like to ensure that the academic debate on social challenges and options for action becomes an even greater part of the communication with these actors. In view of the global nature of the pressing issues of the future, it is important to me to further strengthen collaborations with national and international partners. I look forward to intensifying collaboration with early-career researchers during my term of office.”
Professor Dr Joybrato Mukherjee, Rector of the University of Cologne, said: “Professor Rockenbach is an excellent science manager. I warmly congratulate her on her election. At the same time, I would like to congratulate our National Academy of Sciences: Bettina Rockenbach will lead the Leopoldina with great expertise, prudence and commitment.”
Since 2011, Rockenbach has been a professor of behavioural economics at the University of Cologne. She has served as director of the Reinhard Selten Institute at the Universities of Bonn and Cologne since 2018. She was Vice-Rector for Research and Innovation at the University of Cologne from 2016 to 2024. Prior to this, she was Dean of the Faculty of Economics, Law, and Social Sciences from 2006 to 2008 and Vice-President for Research and Young Academics from 2008 to 2011 at the University of Erfurt. Her research focuses on the design of mechanisms to promote cooperation in social dilemma situations and on conditions for socially responsible economic behaviour. Bettina Rockenbach was appointed to the Leopoldina as a member of the Economics and Empirical Social Sciences Section in 2013 and has been its Deputy Senator since 2019.
As the German National Academy of Sciences, the Leopoldina provides independent research-based advice on socially relevant issues to policy makers. The Leopoldina represents German academia in international bodies, including in the research-based consultations of the annual G7 and G20 summits. It has approximately 1,700 members from more than thirty countries and brings together expertise from almost all research fields. It was founded in 1652 and became the German National Academy of Sciences in 2008. As an independent science academy, the Leopoldina is committed to the common good.
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Further information:
https://www.leopoldina.org/en/leopoldina-home/