Prof Dr Philipp Backhaus
(Faculty of Medicine)
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New professors appointed in 2024
Prof Dr Philipp Backhaus
Prof Dr Claudia Bozzaro
(Faculty of Medicine)
Claudia Bozzaro has served as professor of medical ethics and director of the Institute of Medical Ethics, History and Philosophy of Medicine since September 2024. She studied philosophy and art history in Freiburg and Paris. She obtained her PhD in philosophy as part of an interdisciplinary research project examining the limitations of preference-oriented medicine. In her doctoral thesis, she addressed the interrelationship between suffering, time and age in the context of anti-ageing medicine. Claudia Bozzaro subsequently held the position of research assistant at the Institute for Ethics and History of Medicine in Freiburg. In 2020 she earned her habilitation at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Freiburg with a thesis on the normative significance of the concept of suffering in medical practices at the end of life. That same year she accepted a professorship in medical ethics at the University of Kiel.
Professor Bozzaro’s research focuses on issues at the beginning and end of life, ethical questions of precision medicine, the analysis of normative concepts in medicine, such as suffering, pain and vulnerability, as well as sustainability and justice in healthcare. The objective is to analyse current approaches and developments against the background of social changes and to provide guidance for practical application.
Prof Dr Sabrina Büttner
(Faculty of Biology)
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Prof Dr Timo Dexel
(Faculty of Educational and Social Sciences)
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Prof Dr Regina Elsner
(Faculty of Catholic Theology)
Regina Elsner has been a professor of Eastern church studies and ecumenical theology at the Faculty of Catholic Theology since January 2024. Between her studies in Catholic theology in Berlin and Münster and her doctorate at the University of Münster in 2017, she worked as a project coordinator for Caritas in St. Petersburg/Russia and as an academic consultant to Katrin Göring-Eckardt (member of the German parliament). From 2010 to 2014 she served as a research associate in the competence network “Institutions and Institutional Change in Post-Socialism” at the Institute of Ecumenical Theology in Münster, funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). From 2017 to 2023 she worked as a research associate at the Centre for East European and International Studies (ZOiS) in Berlin.
Her research focuses on the Orthodox churches in post-Soviet Eastern Europe, as well as questions of social ethics and the political theology of the Orthodox churches. In addition to an engagement with the theological stance of the Orthodox churches vis-à-vis modernity, her work primarily centers on themes of ecumenical peace ethics, their role in war and conflict situations, religious identities in social processes, conflicts of values and gender discourses. Since 2018 she has conducted particularly intensive research and published on Orthodoxy in Ukraine. With her socio-ethical and church-historical focus, Professor Elsner’s research focuses strongly on the entanglement of religion and politics in the context of Russia’s war against Ukraine.
Prof Dr Claudia Equit
(Faculty of Education and Social Sciences)
Claudia Equit has been a professor of education with specialisation in social work/child and youth care since September 2024. After training as a chemical laboratory assistant, she studied educational science with specialisation in social work at TU Dortmund University. Before her appointment at the University of Münster, she was a professor of social work at Leuphana University in Lüneburg.
Professor Equit’s research focuses on children’s rights and child protection. She is the principal investigator of several research projects that examine the implementation of children’s rights, well-being and coping strategies, as well as the victimisation of young people in residential and foster care. Claudia Equit founded the International Network on Participation of Children in Alternative Care (INPAC) together with Jade Purtell (Australia) and Samuel Keller (Switzerland). It is especially important to Professor Equit to include and encourage participation of stakeholders who possess extensive experience in child and youth care. She is also interested in incorporating the knowledge of professionals into her research. Claudia Equit examines the interplay between children, youth, professionals and management in different child and youth welfare organisations.
Faculty of Educational and Social Sciences
Prof Dr Johann Nils Foege
(School of Business and Economics)
Johann Nils Foege has been a professor of management and the director of the Institute for Innovation, Strategy, and Organization since October 2024. Prior to this appointment, he was a professor of innovation management at the Leibniz University Hannover (LUH). He studied management and economics at the Ruhr University Bochum and the University of Utrecht (Netherlands) and completed his doctorate at the Institute for Technology and Innovation Management at RWTH Aachen University with a research stay at the University of Cambridge in the UK. He completed his habilitation at the University of Münster with a research stay at the Copenhagen Business School in Denmark.
Professor Foege conducts research at the interface of technology and innovation management, strategic management and organisation theory. His focus is on the design and implementation of innovation strategies in companies of different sizes, especially in partnerships and with respect to knowledge transfer between multiple organisations. His research also focuses on the adaptability of organisations to changing market conditions and the role that new technologies, such as AI, virtual reality and blockchain, play in that regard. His work on digital transformation sheds light on how companies use digital technologies to optimise processes and develop innovative business models. He is particularly interested in “twin transformation”, i.e. the interplay between digitalisation and sustainability in order to promote economically, environmentally and socially sustainable processes.
Prof Dr Julia Gasterstädt
(Faculty of Educational and Social Sciences)
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Faculty of Educational and Social Sciences
Prof Giovanni Guzzo
(Faculty of Music)
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Prof Dr Jan-Frederick Göhsl
(Faculty of Law)
Jan-Frederick Göhsl has been an assistant professor of civil law, economic law and the law of digitalisation since December 2024. After studying at the University of Bonn and at University College London, he was awarded his doctorate in 2022 at Bonn’s Institute for Commercial and Business Law with a thesis on cross-market growth in the digital economy.
His research falls into three areas: competition law, the regulation of digital platforms and artificial intelligence (AI). He is particularly interested in analysing the effects of digital platforms and AI systems on competition and on users’ rights. He also examines the growing importance of AI-based services in the digital economy which raises a host of fundamental questions. Given that regulatory measures have only been introduced in recent years, the key question is whether services that rely on generative AI already fall within the scope of the existing legal framework. His work also focuses on the regulation of high-risk AI systems in the European Union. In this respect, numerous legal uncertainties remain, for example which AI systems should be classified as high-risk at all, and what effective risk management should look like under the EU AI Act.
Prof Dr Lars Hanker
(Faculty of Medicine)
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Prof Dr Dominik Heider
(Faculty of Medicine)
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Prof Dr Julia Kerner auch Körner
(Faculty of Psychology/Sport and Exercise Sciences)
Julia Kerner auch Körner has been an associate professor of diagnostics and individual promotion in inclusive schools at the Institute of Psychology in Education (IPBE) since 2024. Following her studies in psychology at the University of Hamburg, she earned her doctorate at the “DIPF | Leibniz Institute for Research and Information in Education” in Frankfurt a. M. She then went on to conduct research and teach as a postdoc at the University of Bremen and the Helmut Schmidt University in Hamburg.
Julia Kerner also Körner is working to determine why some children with attention deficits and hyperactivity develop a clinical attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) while others do not, and how self-regulation plays into this. Self-regulation always plays a significant role in learning, as well as how it relates to specific learning disorders. Her research on developing tools for diagnosing self-regulation serves as an important basis in this respect.
Prof Dr Ulrike Krause
(Faculty of Education and Social Sciences)
Ulrike Krause has been Professor of Political Science with a Focus on Constitution and Politics of Gender Relations at the Institute of Political Science since August 2024. After studying history as well as peace and conflict studies at the universities of Mannheim, Southampton, and Magdeburg, she earned her doctorate in political science at the University of Magdeburg in 2012. Initially, she worked in the fields of gender mainstreaming, refugee protection, and human rights for international humanitarian organizations such as UNICEF, GIZ, and World Vision and lived in Uganda for three years. She then was a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Marburg and held professorships at Ruhr University Bochum, Osnabrück University and FH Münster, before joining the University of Münster. Since 2017, she has also been affiliated with the Refugee Studies Centre at the University of Oxford.
Her research and teaching concentrates on gender relations in the context of displacement, conflict, violence, and humanitarianism, with a regional focus on East Africa and global developments. She examines the role of gender in postcolonial power relations and investigates processes of exclusion and “Othering”. Furthermore, the political scientist analyzes how gender-based violence persists during conflict-induced displacement and is linked to humanitarian policies, as well as which specific dangers LGBTQ+ refugees face. Linked to this, she explores how displaced people cope with the dangers and restrictions, negotiate gender norms, claim protection and rights, self-organize
Faculty of Educational and Social Sciences
Prof Dr Stephanie Lichtenfeld
(Faculty of Psychology/Sport and Exercise Sciences)
Stephanie Lichtenfeld has been a professor at the Institute of Psychology in Education (IPBE) since September 2024, where she leads the work unit “Developmental Psychological Preconditions for Education and Teaching”. She studied at the LMU Munich and earned her doctorate in psychology with distinction. From there, she conducted research at the University of Rochester in the United States as part of a project funded by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD). She then held a senior lecturer position at LMU and later served as interim professor in educational psychology at the University of Regensburg. Afterwards she served as a professor at the University of Durham in England. In 2021 she accepted a professorship in educational and developmental psychology at the University of Hamburg.
Stephanie Lichtenfeld’s research primarily focuses on understanding the emotions people experience in learning and achievement contexts, how emotions and motivation relate to performance, and what developmental psychological changes occur over time. She also works on the development of interventions to promote positive emotions and reduce negative ones. In her studies, she explores topics of emotional and motivational psychology from various perspectives. To this end, she conducts correlational cross-sectional and longitudinal studies as well as experimental research, aiming to combine the strengths of experimental and applied research. Additionally, she is interested in the personality construct of intolerance of uncertainty and the role it may play in students’ academic lives.
Faculty of Psychology/Sport and Exercise Sciences
Prof Dr Joana van de Löcht
(Faculty of Philology)
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Faculty of Philology
Prof Dr Marcel Rey
(Faculty of Chemistry and Pharmacy)
Marcel Rey has been an assistant professor of physical chemistry since July 2024. He studied materials science at ETH Zurich and completed his PhD with distinction at FAU Erlangen-Nuremberg on the topic of “Soft Particles at Interfaces.” Following his doctoral studies, he conducted postdoctoral research at the University of Edinburgh in the UK, supported by a fellowship granted by the Swiss National Science Foundation. He then continued his research for two years as a postdoc at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden, funded by a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions fellowship.
Professor Rey’s research focuses on soft matter, including colloidal systems, the coffee-ring effect, emulsions and active matter. He is particularly interested in understanding and deliberately modifying the interactions between the individual building blocks of soft matter to better comprehend the properties of emulsions, suspensions and self-organised materials. The goal of his research is to develop new responsive and intelligent materials.
Prof Dr Verena Rieger
(School of Business and Economics)
Verena Rieger has served as the chair for strategic management at the Center for Management since April 2024. She studied international cultural and business studies at the University of Passau and Musashi University in Tokyo. She later completed the Mannheim Master in Management at the University of Mannheim. After completing her PhD on the subject of “Culture and Innovation” at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) in the Marketing and Sales research group, she worked as a postdoc at TU Dortmund University and the University of Düsseldorf at the Chair of Management.
Her research interests focus on questions of digital and sustainable transformation, strategic innovation management and strategic success factors of young ventures. Professor Rieger applies a mixed-method approach that focuses on quantitative-empirical secondary data research. In a recently published research project, for example, she investigated whether a strategic emphasis on innovation helps companies become more resilient in times of crisis.
Prof Dr Nicolas Rohner
(Faculty of Biology)
Nicolas Rohner has been a professor of animal physiology at the Faculty of Biology since October 2024. After studying biology in Erlangen, he completed his doctorate at the Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology in Tübingen under Dr Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1995 for her research on the genetic control of embryonic development. His scientific career then took him to Harvard Medical School where he conducted research from 2010 to 2015 and was introduced to the Mexican cavefish (Astyanax mexicanus) as a model organism for studying extreme adaptation. From 2015 to 2024 he led a research group at the Stowers Institute for Medical Research, a private research institute in Kansas City where he further developed the cavefish as a model organism using cutting-edge genetic tools.
Professor Rohner’s primary research focuses on the metabolic adaptability of organisms to extreme environmental conditions. He collaborates closely with international research teams to understand the genetic foundations of adaptive mechanisms. His research primarily uses the Mexican cavefish, as well as other evolutionary models, to study mechanisms of starvation resistance and evolutionary resilience to metabolic diseases such as obesity and diabetes. His approach is interdisciplinary, combining evolutionary principles with modern genetic methods, based on the idea of learning from nature to address contemporary medical and physiological challenges.
Prof Dr Bettina Rösken-Winter
(Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science)
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Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science
Prof Dr Markus Rüsch
(Faculty of Protestant Theology)
Markus Rüsch has been an assistant professor of religious studies at the Faculty of Protestant Theology since February 2024. He completed his undergraduate studies at the Freie Universität Berlin, where he earned his PhD. His dissertation focused on hagiographies. Currently, he is working on a habilitation project, exploring the aesthetics of space in Japanese religions. During his studies and prior to completing his doctoral thesis, he carried out research at several universities in Japan. After earning his PhD, Markus Rüsch worked as a postdoc and full-time lecturer at Ryukoku University and Kyoto Women’s University in Japan.
In his research and teaching, Markus Rüsch examines religion from multiple perspectives, including material religion, the philology of religion, philosophy, literature theory and rhetoric. He is particularly interested in exploring why and how religious practitioners use the term “holy person”. Another area of his research focuses on the conditions for a community to conceptualise a religious space conducive to activities like rituals. Professor Rüsch is also interested in environmental ethics from the standpoint of Buddhist studies. In this area, he questions what forms of responsible behaviour are mandated according to the scriptures of the given religion. He addresses these issues within Mahāyāna Buddhism, specifically focusing on its manifestations in Japan.
Prof Dr Anne Kathrin Schmiedl
(Faculty of Philology)
Anne Kathrin Schmiedl has been an associate professor of literature and culture of modern China at the Institute of Sinology and East Asian Studies since March 2024. After earning degrees in Chinese studies, Japanese studies and English cultural studies in Erlangen and Yamaguchi, she earned her PhD in Chinese Studies in Erlangen. She completed research stays in Jinan, Taipei, Tokyo and Seoul. Her dissertation was supported by a scholarship provided by the Evangelisches Studienwerk Villigst e. V. and was awarded the Lilli Bechmann-Rahn Prize by the Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nürnberg. Before accepting the position in Münster, she was a research fellow at the Institute for Sinology in Erlangen and a visiting fellow/postdoctoral fellow at the International Consortium for Research in the Humanities “Fate, Freedom and Prognostication. Strategies for Coping with the Future in East Asia and Europe”.
Her research interests include literature of late imperial China, script theories, classification processes, animal studies and the history and development of mantic methods in Chinese-speaking countries. In her dissertation, she analysed the previously little-researched method of Chinese character manipulation, a literary and cultural practice that was used by Chinese scholars as a rhetorical device and by diviners as a basis for interpreting the cosmos. In her current research project, Professor Schmiedl studies mythical-literary female figures in late imperial Chinese sources, as well as their transformation in modern and contemporary Chinese and Japanese adaptations.
Prof Dr Matthias Sigler
(Faculty of Medicine)
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Faculty of Medicine
Prof Dr Simone Sinn
(Faculty of Protestant Theology)
Simone Sinn has been a professor of religious studies and intercultural theology at the Faculty of Protestant Theology since March 2024. She studied Protestant theology in Bethel, Heidelberg and Tübingen and ecumenical studies at the Irish School of Ecumenics in Dublin (Ireland). In her PhD research position in the Cluster of Excellence “Religion and Politics” at the University of Münster, she investigated political and theological narratives on religious pluralism at Islamic and Christian universities in Indonesia. She subsequently completed her doctorate there in 2013. From 2013 to 2018 she was responsible for interreligious relations in the theology department of the Lutheran World Federation in Geneva (Switzerland). She coordinated a project on religious actors in cooperation with universities in Germany, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Norway, Tanzania and the USA. In 2018 she began teaching ecumenical theology at the Bossey Ecumenical Institute (Switzerland) as a professor. This institute is part of the World Council of Churches and is affiliated with the Faculty of Theology of the University of Geneva. Starting in 2021, she served as dean of the institute, responsible for coordinating its academic programme.
Her research interests lie in narratives of the human/ humanity in interreligious cooperation in the context of international relations and the tension between particularity and universality as articulated in the shaping and affirmation of concepts of humanity. Professor Sinn also engages with debates on decolonisation and their epistemological challenges to religious studies and intercultural theology.
Prof Dr Albrecht Stroh
(Faculty of Medicine)
Albrecht Stroh has been a professor of physiology and the director of the Institute of Physiology I - Neurophysiology at the University Hospital Münster since August 2024. After earning his Diplom in biophysics at Humboldt University in Berlin and his PhD in experimental biophysics in neurology and neuroradiology at the Charité in Berlin, Albrecht Stroh worked as a postdoc at Stanford University and the University Hospital of TU Munich. From 2012 to 2024 he was a professor of molecular imaging and optogenetics at the University Medical Center of Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz, where he also co-founded the Leibniz Institute for Resilience Research.
His research focuses on the investigation of functional neuronal network disorders in neurological diseases such as multiple sclerosis and Huntington’s disease. He also investigates key factors of neuronal resilience. He uses modern imaging techniques, such as two-photon calcium imaging and functional magnetic resonance imaging, to decipher neuronal mechanisms of disease progression and develop network-based therapeutic approaches. Professor Stroh received the Kurt Decker Prize from the German Society of Neuroradiology for his work. As head of the “Learning Resilience” research network, he promotes national and international cooperation in neurophysiological research.
Prof Dr Christian Thomas
(Faculty of Medicine)
Christian Thomas has been an assistant professor at the “Body and Brain Institute Münster” since March 2024. He studied medicine in Münster and Basel. After completing his doctorate at the Department of Molecular Nephrology in Münster, he pursued clinical and scientific work at the Department of Neurology and the Institute of Neuropathology at the University Hospital Münster. In 2022 he became a board-certified neuropathologist.
Professor Thomas’s research focuses on genetic and epigenetic changes in inflammatory and neoplastic diseases of the central nervous system. To better understand the pathogenesis and development of these diseases, he combines histopathological changes with molecular data and employs integrative bioinformatics approaches, as well as machine learning for their analysis. His research group has contributed to the development of prognostic biomarkers, which have already been incorporated into clinical practice. Using next-generation sequencing and nanopore sequencing, his group investigates infectious diseases of the nervous system, characterising pathogens such as viruses, bacteria and fungi based on their genetic material. The long-term goal of his research is to contribute to improved diagnostics and a better understanding of neuro-oncological and neuro-infectious diseases.
Prof Dr Frank Tüttelmann
(Faculty of Medicine)
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Faculty of Medicine
Prof Dr Susann Wicke
(Faculty of Biology)
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Faculty of Biology
Prof Dr Anne Christin Wietfeld
(Faculty of Law)
Anne Christin Wietfeld was appointed chair of civil law, German and European labour law, social law and methodology at the University of Münster in April 2024. After studying law and completing her doctorate at the University of Bielefeld with a dissertation in the field of labour law, she earned her post-doctoral qualification (habilitation) with a monograph devoted to the field of civil law. She held a professorship in civil law, German and European labour law, social law and methodology at the University of Greifswald for three years before transferring to Münster.
Her research focuses on various areas of labour law. In addition to collective labour law, she also researches questions of European labour law and its influence on national legal systems. She also focuses on methodological approaches. In the field of social law, Professor Wietfeld focuses on the law of statutory accident insurance, an area where she sees a need for further research. Work cultures are constantly changing due to modern forms of work, to which the current concept of accident insurance law often no longer fits.
Faculty of Law
Prof Dr Denise Moreira de Godoy Willems
(Faculty of Physics)
Denise Moreira de Godoy Willems has been an assistant professor at the Institute for Nuclear Physics since July 2024. After her studies in physics, she obtained her PhD at the University of São Paulo (Brazil) in the area of heavy-ion physics. She then worked as a researcher at the laboratory SUBATECH in Nantes (France) and at the University of Münster. In addition, her scientific work led her to the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Geneva (Switzerland). She is a member of the ALICE collaboration at the LHC and a member of the CBM collaboration at the future FAIR accelerator.
One goal of her research is to better understand the quark-gluon plasma. The quark-gluon plasma is a special state of matter which can be achieved at extremely high temperatures and/or energy densities. It is believed that this state of matter existed in the universe during a phase shortly after the Big Bang. In the laboratory, the quark-gluon plasma can be created using heavy-ion collisions in particle accelerators. Such laboratory experiments are subject to enormous challenges in data analysis and detector technology. Overcoming these challenges is also part of her research portfolio. Besides the analysis of experimental data, she works on the development of particle detectors based on silicon sensor technologies with her new workgroup. Silicon detectors will dominate the next generation of large experiments dedicated to exploring the quark-gluon plasma by the Society for Heavy Ion Research (GSI) in Darmstadt and the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN).