Dorothea Wagner, a computer scientist who researches and teaches at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), is the new chairwoman of the Science Council, the most important advisory body in Germany for research policy. The professor and head of the KIT Institute for Theoretical Computer Science is the third woman in this position after her predecessor, agricultural economist Martina Brockmeier, and engineering scientist Dagmar Schipanski.
The Science Council (WR) advises the Federal Government and the Länder on questions of further development of the university system in terms of content and structure and on state funding of research institutions. "I am convinced that Professor Dorothea Wagner is the right person to contribute significantly to strengthening science in Germany," says KIT President Professor Holger Hanselka. During her time at KIT, she has, above all, influenced research on algorithms in an outstanding way. "Her work in the field of computer science is trend-setting both nationally and internationally." Dorothea Wagner is also a proven expert on the German science system, with many years of experience as Vice President of the DFG, as a member of the German Science Council and as a member of many committees of scientific institutions. "I congratulate Dorothea Wagner most warmly on her unanimous election as the new Chair of the German Science Council," emphasised Hanselka.
"The German Science Council plays an outstanding role in shaping the German scientific landscape as a whole. In this respect, KIT has a unique double function as a university of excellence and member of the Helmholtz Association. Therefore, we are very pleased that Dorothea Wagner, an outstanding KIT scientist who is very familiar with the perspective of a university as well as that of a large-scale research institution, has been elected", adds Professor Oliver Kraft, KIT Vice President for Research.
"I am looking forward to this office, especially since - against the background of my subject - I am taking over the chairmanship of the Science Council at a very appropriate time. After all, many of the upcoming and urgent topics are also of great concern to me as a computer scientist. Over the next few years, the focus will increasingly be on how science is changing in the age of digitization. This is the focus on which I would like to concentrate as Chair of the WR," says Professor Dorothea Wagner.
In the Scientific Commission of the Science Council, of which Dorothea Wagner has so far been the deputy chairperson, Peter Gumbsch, Professor of Mechanics of Materials at KIT, was confirmed in his office as chairperson.
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