Award ceremony for the Alexander von Humboldt Professorships on 5 May in Berlin

The Alexander von Humboldt Professorship brings top international researchers from abroad to German universities. The award, which comes with up to €5 million in funding, offers optimal financial conditions and maximum flexibility for conducting leading-edge research in Germany. The new Humboldt Professors are moving from abroad to Cologne, Duisburg-Essen, Erlangen-Nuremberg, Hamburg, Leipzig and Potsdam. 

The last Alexander von Humboldt Professorship for Artificial Intelligence will be awarded this year. These additional Humboldt Professorships in the field of artificial intelligence have been awarded since the year 2020. They can also focus on the societal, legal and ethical aspects of artificial intelligence.

Photos and information regarding all of this year’s Humboldt Professors can be accessed here. Photos from the event will be made available for downloading on the day after the award ceremony. 

Award ceremony

The awards will be presented by Cem Özdemir, Germany’s Acting Federal Minister of Education and Research, and Robert Schlögl, President of the Humboldt Foundation.

Time: 5 May 2025, 7 p.m. (doors open at 6 p.m.)
Venue: Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities, Jägerstraße 22-23, 10117 Berlin
Accreditation: To receive accreditation, please send a copy of your press ID by e-mail to presse@avh.de.
Press contact on location: Kristina Güroff, Tel. 0151-14015796
Transmission-quality footage: Images and audio are available upon request.
Interviews can, by individual arrangement, be also conducted also in advance. 

Recipients of an Alexander von Humboldt Professorship:

• Dana Branzei, Molecular Biology, is switching from the Institute of Molecular Oncology in Milan to the University of Duisburg-Essen. She conducts research on mechanisms involved in DNA repair. Her outstanding research findings are contributing to our fundamental understanding of carcinogenesis and cancer therapy. Dana Branzei will be a Humboldt Professor at the Research Center One Health Ruhr in the University Alliance Ruhr and at the Faculty of Biology at the University of Duisburg-Essen. She will also strengthen the Center of Medical Biotechnology.
• Daniel Kráľ, Mathematics/Computer Science, is switching from the University of Brno to Leipzig University and the Max Planck Institute for Mathematics in the Sciences. He is a leading researcher in the field of discrete mathematics and is interested in optimization processes in complex organizational structures. He has succeeded in solving mathematical problems and conjectures that had been open for decades. By recruiting Kráľ as a Humboldt Professor, Leipzig University aims to increasingly network its strategic focus on Intelligent Methods and Materials. 
• Ingrid Piller, Sociolinguistics, is switching from Macquarie University in Sydney to the University of Hamburg. She has influenced the field of applied linguistics on a lasting basis. Her research into linguistic diversity and intercultural communication has had an impact that extends far beyond her immediate field of research and influences a number of other disciplines such as sociology, history and educational science. Ingrid Piller will now head the Hamburg-based Literacy in Diversity Settings (LiDS) research centre which was established in 2021.
• Eva Pils, International Public Law, has been switching from King’s College London to Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU). She is an internationally respected, interdisciplinary expert for international human rights, with a focus on China. She has been invited to establish at FAU a globally visible centre of excellence in the area of international human rights. Her award ceremony will be made up from last year (Humboldt Professorship 2024).
• Andreas Winter, Quantum Communication, is switching from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona to the University of Cologne. He is a distinguished mathematician and expert on quantum information theory. His research focuses on the mathematical principles of quantum information. With his appointment, the University of Cologne wants to continue develop its computer science department with a focus on quantum informatics.

Alexander von Humboldt Professor for Artificial Intelligence: 

• Sandra Wachter, Law, is switching from the University of Oxford to the University of Potsdam and the Hasso Plattner Institute. The technology law expert has been invited to work on the development of ethical, legal AI expertise in business and society in Germany. As a Humboldt Professor for Artificial Intelligence in Potsdam, Sandra Wachter will be attached to the Hasso Plattner Institute’s Data and AI cluster where she will help realign the cluster in the direction of fairness and explainability of AI methods.

A livestream of the award ceremony will be available on 5 May.

Every year, the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation enables more than 2,000 researchers from all over the world to spend time conducting research in Germany. The Foundation maintains an interdisciplinary network of well over 30,000 Humboldtians in more than 140 countries around the world – including 61 Nobel Prize winners.