“I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the university community for the trust you have vested in me by re-electing me for a second term and I look forward to continuing my management of the University of Greifswald over the next four years. In these last years, together we have overcome challenges and strengthened the University as a location for excellent research, innovative teaching and cosmopolitan and international collaboration. It is my aim to continue this positive development, consolidate our attractiveness as an employer and location for education, to make the University more visible both in Germany and beyond, and position ourselves as a strong partner for the surrounding region,” said Rector Prof. Dr. Katharina Riedel directly after her re-election.
Specific measures that the Rector plans to realise in her second term of office include the development of a strategy fund to support research, the establishment of an advisory university council with renowned expert members, an extension of the staff development measures, as well as the strengthening of University Communications.
The Chairman of the Academic Senate, Prof. Dr. Marko Pantermöller, congratulated the re-elected Rector and assured the university parliament’s willingness to continue the constructive collaboration in all matters related to academic self-government and all of the support required for continuing the leadership of the University of Greifswald in light of ever new challenges in research, teaching and academic policy.
Prof. Dr. Katharina Riedel studied Biology at the Technical University of Munich, where she also completed her doctorate at the Institute of Microbiology in 1998. In 2006, she concluded her habilitation at the University of Zurich. Having been professor at the University of Braunschweig, she became Chair of Microbiology at the University of Greifswald in 2011 and Managing Director of the Institute in 2013. From 2016 to 2017, Prof. Riedel was Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences and from 2017 to 2021, she was Pro-Rector for Research and Transfer, International Affairs and Equal Opportunities before being elected to Rector in 2021. Furthermore, she held the position of acting Founding Director of Greifswald’s Helmholtz Institute of One Health in 2020/21, was appointed a member of the Foundation Board of the Universität zu Lübeck in 2023, and elected as Deputy Chairwoman of the German University Alliance (UA) 11+ and to the Extended Spokespersons’ Board of the HRK Universities Member Group in 2024.
Prof. Dr. Katharina Riedel is the second woman in the history of the university to hold the office of Rector. Her first term of office began in April 2021.
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