New professors appointed in 2023

Prof. Dr. Sebastian Bernhardt
(Faculty of Philology)

Sebastian Bernhardt has been Professor of Literature and Media Didactics at the Department of German Studies since September 2023. He completed his studies in German, Philosophy and French at Kiel University in 2012 with a doctorate in literary studies. He initially worked at the Center for Cultural Studies Research Lübeck and as a project manager for the redesign of the permanent exhibition at Buddenbrook House and the Heinrich and Thomas Mann Center of the Hanseatic City of Lübeck. From 2015, he worked in the Department of Didactics of German Language and Literature at the Technical University of Braunschweig, where he completed his habilitation in 2022 with a thesis on "Literary-aesthetic learning in the exhibition space". Most recently, he has held the professorship for German literature and its didactics at the University of Education in Schwäbisch Gmünd since 2020.

In his research, Sebastian Bernhardt is particularly interested in the question of transmedial narratology and its didactics. He pursues narrative as an artistic form of expression through different media. He is particularly interested in the area of extracurricular learning in literature and media lessons and develops ways of incorporating exhibitions as part of German lessons. He also focuses on diversity-oriented, power-reflexive and racism-critical literature and media lessons.

Faculty of Philology

Prof. Dr. Timo Brockmeyer
(Faculty of Psychology and Sports Science)

Timo Brockmeyer has been a professor at the Department of Psychology since October 2023, where he established the new Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy Unit and heads the associated Psychotherapy Outpatient Clinic. He studied psychology at Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg, where he completed his doctorate in the same subject. Before Timo Brockmeyer moved to the Clinic for Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy at Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf as Head Psychologist for Research, where he habilitated in experimental psychosomatics and psychotherapy research, he worked as a research assistant and psychotherapist at the Clinic for Internal Medicine and Psychosomatics at Heidelberg University Hospital and as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at King's College London. In 2018, he accepted an appointment as Professor of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy at the University of Göttingen. There, in addition to his department, he headed the university outpatient clinic for research and teaching, the continuing education course in psychological psychotherapy and the associated training outpatient clinic.

Timo Brockmeyer is primarily concerned with the question of how eating disorders and depression develop and are maintained and how they can be treated effectively. He concentrates on affective, cognitive and interpersonal processes. A central element of this is the translation of findings from basic research into new, particularly technology-supported, neurobiologically based and pharmacological-psychological interventions. In doing so, he is increasingly focusing on transdiagnostic approaches. At the same time, he is investigating the mechanisms of action of existing treatment and prevention methods in order to improve their effectiveness.

Faculty of Psychology/Sport and Exercise Sciences

Prof. Dr. Elsemieke Daalder
(Faculty of Law)

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Faculty of Law

Prof. Dr. Juliane Gerland
(Faculty of Music)

Juliane Gerland has been Professor of Music Education with a focus on special educational needs and inclusion at the Institute of Music Education since November 2023. After studying instrumental pedagogy, elementary music education and music therapy at the universities in Cologne/Wuppertal and Heidelberg, she completed her doctorate in music and special education at TU Dortmund University. At the same time, she worked as a music teacher for several years.

In her research, she focuses on inclusive music education, digitalization in music education and pedagogical professionalization in extracurricular music education. The aim is to find out how music education structures can develop with a view to the diversity of society, but also to what extent music-making as an artistic form of interaction has inclusive potential. Before moving to the University of Münster, she was Professor of Music in Childhood Education and Social Action Fields at Bielefeld University of Applied Sciences, and before that Junior Professor of Cultural Education and Inclusion at the University of Siegen.

University of Music (Only in German)

Prof. Dr. Jan-Martin Geiger
(Faculty of Philology)

English version follows

Faculty of History and Philosophy

Prof. Dr. Tanja Grammer
(Faculty of Medicine)

Tanja Grammer has headed the Institute of General Medicine since December 2023. She studied medicine in Graz (Austria) and Lyon (France), earned her doctorate in medicinal chemistry with a dissertation on oxidative stress, and completed her medical internship as a general practitioner in Austria. During her training as a specialist in laboratory medicine in Austria and Heidelberg, her research mainly focused on using genetic and other biomarkers for assessing the risk of cardiovascular disorders. In September 2020 she was employed at the Mannheim Institute for Public Health which was incorporated into the Department of General Medicine in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Heidelberg a year and a half ago. There she worked as a research associate and project manager, as well as medical director of the Surgery for Experimental General Medicine and principal lecturer in the subject of general medicine.

In addition to conducting epidemiological association studies of bio markers for predicting the risk of cardiovascular illnesses, Tanja Grammer is developing innovative treatment concepts for primary practitioners, integrating digital options and interprofessional care. The aim is to develop personalised concepts for preventing cardiovascular illnesses. She also heads clinical research projects in the General Medicinal Research Surgery at the University Hospital Münster (UKM) and in cooperation with the General Practitioners’ Research Practice Network.

Faculty of Medicine

Prof. Dr. Vitali Gretschko
(Faculty of Economic Sciences)

Since July 2023, Vitali Gretschko has been teaching and researching at the Faculty of Economics in the field of economics with a focus on environmental, resource and energy economics. He studied mathematics at the University of Münster and completed his doctorate in economics at the University of Cologne. He then worked as a postdoc at the University of Cologne. Before accepting the call to Münster, he was Professor of Market Design at the University of Mannheim and headed the Market Design research area at the Leibniz Center for European Economic Research.

His research focuses on market design. His aim is to develop, simulate and experimentally test rules for stable and functional markets and institutions and finally to scientifically support the implementation of these rules. Among other things, his research contributes to the design of the energy transition, energy market design (local, regional, national and European) and the design of green finance products.

School of Business and Economics

 

Prof. Dr. Thomas Hanke
(Faculty of Catholic Theology)

Thomas Hanke has been Professor of Philosophical Foundations of Theology and Director of the Seminary of the same name since October 2023. After studying philosophy and theology in Frankfurt am Main, Münster and Rome, he received his doctorate from the University of Münster in 2011. His dissertation was awarded the Sybille Hahne Prize. In 2018, he completed his habilitation at Goethe University in Frankfurt. Several research stays took him to the University of Cambridge (UK). He taught as a lecturer and later as an honorary professor at the Philosophisch-Theologische Hochschule Sankt Georgen in Frankfurt and at the University of Erfurt before taking up a professorship at the University of Münster in 2020.

Thomas Hanke's research focuses on modern/modern philosophy and its reception in the present, as well as systematically on the philosophy of the subject and philosophy of religion. His current projects include the edition of Immanuel Kant's "Religionsschrift" (1793/94) in the revised academy edition of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities. At the University of Münster, he is dedicated to establishing a Center for Enlightenment and Idealism Research. Under this umbrella, the contextualization of Kant's philosophy of religion within the philosophy and theology of the Enlightenment period will be intensified, as well as the systematic question of the connection between the constitution of norms and the interpretation of history, which is an important motif of a current "Hegel renaissance".

Faculty of Catholic Theology

Prof. Dr. Michaela Hailbronner
(Faculty of Law)

Michaela Hailbronner holds the chair of German and International Public and Comparative Law at the University of Münster since January 2023. She completed two German law degrees at the University of Freiburg and the Kammergericht of Berlin before doing an LL.M. and a J.S.D. (doctorate) at Yale Law School (LL.M. 2010 and J.S.D. 2013). Michaela Hailbronner is involved in a number of international collaborations and part of the advisory board of the International Journal of Constitutional Law (ICON) as well as World Comparative Law (WCL/VRÜ) and in her function as Deputy Secretary General and Co-President from 2024-2027 of the International Society of Public Law (ICON-S).

Michaela Hailbronner is interested in the way in which public law frames inter-institutional relationships in different legal systems as well as connected questions of legal history, culture and theory. Her analysis of German constitutionalism against a broader comparative background appeared in a paper that won the I.CON Inaugural Best Paper Award 2014 and in her first book Traditions and Transformations: The Rise of German Constitutionalism (Oxford University Press, 2015). Her more recent work has been in the field of comparative constitutional law and human rights, appearing inter alia in the American Journal of Comparative Law, the University of Toronto Law Journal and the International Journal of Constitutional Law. She is currently completing a book project on arguments from failure in public which is forthcoming with Cambridge University Press and deals with cases where institutions seek to expand their own powers to grapple with issues other institutions have failed to deal with.

Faculty of Law

Prof. Dr. Stefanie Kemme
(Faculty of Law)

Stefanie Kemme has been Professor of Criminology at the University of Münster since April 2023. She studied psychology and law at the Freie Universität and Humboldt-Universität in Berlin as well as at the Università Degli Studi Roma Tre. At the Justus Liebig University in Giessen, she initially worked as a research assistant at the Chair of Criminology, Juvenile Criminal Law and Correctional Law and obtained her doctorate in law in 2007. She worked in France for several years and also completed her legal clerkship there. After working as a lawyer for a commercial law firm in Berlin, she moved to the Criminological Research Institute of Lower Saxony as a project manager in 2009. From 2011 to 2015, she was a junior professor of criminal law at the University of Hamburg and from 2015 to 2023 a professor of criminology and criminal law at the Hamburg Police Academy.

Her research focuses on police and justice, processes of formal social control, prejudices, stereotypes and cognitive biases in the context of police work as well as judicial errors. She also focuses on fear of crime and punitivity, juvenile delinquency and criminal law, drug use and policy, crime forecasting, and intercultural criminological issues. In a recently completed research project, she investigated confirmation bias in the context of police investigations. She is currently working on the nature and development of democracy-related attitudes, values and associated practices in the police. At the University of Münster, she is also focusing on the effects of sanctions and legislation as well as changes in police and judicial work through AI-supported systems.

Faculty of Law

Prof. Dr. Kornelius Kerl
(Faculty of Medicine)

Kornelius Kerl has been head oft he division of Paediatric Oncology at the Department of Paediatric Haematology and Oncology since November 2023. He studied medicine at the Philipps University of Marburg, where he completed his doctorate at the Institute of Tumour Biology. After completing his specialist training in paediatrics at Münster University Hospital, he worked as a postdoc at the Institute for Molecular Tumour Biology in Münster. Kornelius Kerl specialises in the treatment of children and adolescents with brain tumours. He also specialises in counselling families with genetic tumour predisposition syndromes.

His research focuses on uncovering mechanisms of cellular heterogeneity and cellular communication in childhood tumours. Kornelius Kerl and his team are investigating what information tumour cells exchange with infiltrating cells and what properties this communication contributes to (e.g. in the development of resistance to a therapy).

Faculty of Medicine

Prof. Dr. Stefan Korch
(Faculty of Law)

Stefan is a Professor of Corporate Law, Capital Markets Law, and Bankruptcy Law. Before joining University of Muenster Law School, Stefan was a senior research fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law in Hamburg. He also taught corporate law and capital markets law at Bucerius Law School, where he earned his post-doctoral qualification (habilitation) in December 2022 based on his monograph on M&A contracts. Previously, he served as a law clerk (Referendar) at the Nuremberg Court of Appeals and worked for an international law firm in Munich and Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Trained in law, economics, and business administration, Stefan holds several degrees, amongst them an LL.M. from Harvard Law School and a PhD from the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg. In his PhD thesis (2015), he examines how insights on actual human behavior and preferences can be integrated into law and economics, using the example of tort law. During his doctoral studies, he worked as a research fellow and lecturer at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg Law School and attended Duke Law School as a visiting scholar and Gibson Dunn fellow.

His research is devoted to corporate and bankruptcy law, capital markets, contracts, and torts, with a special focus on M&A contracts, corporate restructuring, and ESG in corporate and commercial law.

Faculty of Law

Juniorprofessor Dr. Jakub Krukar
(Institute for Geoinformatics)
 

Jakub Krukar has been a junior professor at the Institute of Geoinformatics since July 2023. After completing his master's degree in psychology in Warsaw, he earned his doctorate at the University of Northumbria in Newcastle upon Tyne. He then worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute of Geoinformatics in Münster. During this time, he was also a Visiting Fellow at the Future Cities Lab in Singapore.

Jakub Krukar works in the field of spatial cognition - a branch of cognitive science that investigates how people think about, in and with space. The aim of his research is to improve evidence-based architectural design by integrating psychological insights into spatial cognition with algorithmic methods for spatial design and analysis. This requires the use of a diverse set of methodological tools, ranging from virtual reality and empirical in-the-wild studies to spatiotemporal data analyses and mobile eye-tracking. Guided by the principles of "use-inspired basic research", his focus is on solving real-world challenges that push the boundaries of existing research methods and theories.

Faculty of Geosciences

 

 

Prof. Dr. Tim Lämmermann
(Faculty of Medicine)

Tim Lämmermann is heading the Institute of Medical Biochemistry at the Center of Molecular Biology of Inflammation (ZMBE) since October 2023. Following his studies in molecular medicine at the University of Erlangen-Nürnberg, he earned his doctorate at the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich. He subsequently completed his postdoctoral work at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) at the National Institutes of Health (Bethesda, USA).

His research aims at understanding the fundamental processes underlying the movement and navigation of individual immune cells in the complex environment of inflamed or infected tissues. Additionally, he is studying how immune cells communicate and act in concert with each other to achieve together an optimal immune response.

Faculty of Medicine

Prof. Dr. Iris Niehues
(Faculty of Physics)

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Faculty of Physics

Prof. Dr. Rainhild Schäfers
(Faculty of Medicine)

Rainhild Schäfers has been - professor of midwifery science and head of the Institute of Midwifery at the Faculty of Medicine since January 2023. She has worked as a midwife in both clinical and non-clinical setting for 21 years. After completing a four-year degree programme in nursing science, she worked for the Midwifery Research Network at the Osnabrück University of Applied Science as a research associate for six years. In 2011 she completed her doctorate in the Faculty of Human Science at the University of Osnabrück with a dissertation on “Subjective Health Assessment of Healthy Women after Childbirth”. This was followed by an appointment at the University of Applied Sciences – Hochschule für Gesundheit  in Bochum, where she worked as a professor of midwifery science until December 2022. During her time at the Midwifery Research Network and the University of Applied Sciences - Hochschule für Gesundheit, she was involved in numerous research projects on the subject of perinatal care.

Her research focuses on influencing factors for perinatal interventions and increasing the quality of perinatal care. She is a member of the expert panel on perinatal medicine at the Institute of Quality Assurance and Transparency in Healthcare, the advisory board of the Quality in Non-Clinical Obstetrics Association (QUAG e.V.) and the steering committee of the German Network for Quality Development in Nursing (DNQP).

Faculty of Medicine

Prof. Dr. Katharina Schmidt
(Faculty of Protestant Theology)

Katharina Schmidt has been Junior Professor of Biblical Archaeology since October 2023. This is a joint appointment with the German Archaeological Institute in conjunction with the German Protestant Institute of Archaeology. In addition to her teaching and research activities at the University of Münster, Katharina Schmidt also works as an academic consultant in Jerusalem and Amman.

She studied Near Eastern Archaeology, Assyriology and Pre- and Protohistory and Archaeology at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU) in Munich and the Sorbonne in Paris. In 2016, she completed her doctorate at the Graduate School "Distant Worlds" at LMU on glass production in the Iron Age of Mesopotamia, and was also a fellow of the Research Training Group "Value and Equivalence" at Goethe University Frankfurt and a visiting researcher at University College London. She is currently working on her habilitation on Iron Age statues from the Kingdom of Ammon. Before coming to Münster, Katharina Schmidt was Director of the W. F. Albright Institute of Archaeological Research in Jerusalem (2022 - 2023) and Director of the German Protestant Institute of Antiquities of the Holy Land in the Jordanian capital Amman (2016 - 2022).

Katharina Schmidt has conducted field work throughout the Middle East, including Jordan, Syria and Turkey. Her research focuses on the Bronze and Iron Ages in the Eastern Mediterranean and Mesopotamia, ancient crafts, especially glass; she also researches iconographic topics. In the Amman Archaeological Project, she investigates the archaeological remains of the kingdom of Ammon. The excavations at the Amman Citadel, the royal seat of the Ammonite rulers, which will begin in spring 2024 and whose first campaign is being funded by the University of Münster, will receive particular attention.

Faculty of Protestant Theology

 

Prof. Dr. Susanne Schnepel
(Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science)

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Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science

 

Prof. Dr. Tim Stanik
(Faculty of Educational and Social Sciences)

Tim Stanik has been Professor of Educational Science, specialising in Adult Education and Pedagogical Professionalism since May 2023. He previously trained as a Industrial Management Assistant. He studied Educational Science with a focus on Adult/Vocational Education and Sociology at the Technical University of Dortmund. In his doctoral thesis he examines the processes of counselling/guidance in continuing education as a form of institutional interaction. Before joining the University of Münster, Professor Stanik was Professor of Counselling and Guidance with a focus on digitalisation and new media at the University of Applied Labour in Schwerin.

His research focuses on counselling/guidance processes in continuing education, including both face-to-face and computer-mediated interactions. In addition, Professor Stanik's research focuses on didactic strategies in adult education. He is particularly interested in the practical implementation of didactic principles in adult and continuing education and the resulting effects. His research aims to contribute to the development of theory and the professionalisation of adult education.

Faculty of Educational and Social Science

Prof. Dr. Denise Steiner
(Faculty of Chemistry and Pharmacy)

Denise Steiner has held the Rottendorf Foundation’s professorship for pharmaceutical technology, established at the Institute of Pharmaceutical Technology and Biopharmacy since October 2023. She studied process engineering at the TU Braunschweig where she subsequently earned her doctorate in the field of pharmaceutic process engineering. For almost two years thereafter, she gained practical experience in the area of formulation development in the pharmaceutical industry. In 2019 she returned to the TU Braunschweig as a post-doc where she researched and taught at the Institute for Pharmaceutical Technology and Biopharmacy. In spring 2022 she received an appointment as assistant professor for pharmaceutical technology at the University of Tübingen. There she created her own research group which she continues to lead at the University of Münster.

Denise Steiner’s research deals with formulating challenging, predominantly poorly water-soluble substances into solid, innovative and customisable forms of medication. Her work is thus situated at the interface between pharmaceutical technology and process engineering. Among other things, her research focuses on creating nanoparticular active ingredients and lipid-containing carrier systems, as well as their further processing into solid orodispersible and mucoadhesive forms. She also researches 2D printing with inks containing active substances for use in various carrier systems to individualise the dosages of active ingredients.

Faculty of Chemistry and Pharmacy

Prof. Dr. Leonie Steinl
(Faculty of Law)

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Faculty of Law

Prof. Dr. Thomas Stodulka
(Faculty of History/Philosophy)

Thomas Stodulka has been a professor of social anthropology since October 2023 at the University of Münster. He studied social and cultural anthropology, journalism and communication studies, religious studies and visual anthropology at the University of Göttingen.
He earned his doctorate at the Freie Universität Berlin where he subsequently taught for several years.

Thomas Stodulka conducted research at the “Netherlands Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities and Social Sciences” and the “National University Singapore” where he focused on affect, emotion, youth, alternative economics and education, social movements, activism, psychological health and illness in the context of marginalisation and stigmatisation. He carried out extended field research projects with children and adolescents living in conditions of homelessness in Indonesia and headed several international research ventures on the role of affect and emotion in field research and ethnography, on psychological health and illness in Indonesia, on envy in transcultural perspectives and on critical perspectives on Big Data. In recent years, he has also investigated the role of permaculture, alternative education and liberation pedagogies in future visions of sustainable living in East Timor and beyond. He is the cofounder of the European Network for Psychological Anthropology (ENPA) of the European Association for Social Anthropologists (EASA) and editor of several journals, book series and blogs.

Faculty of History and Philosophy

Prof. Dr. Jan vom Brocke
(School of Business and Economics)

Jan vom Brocke has been a professor and chair of the Department of Information Systems and Business Process Management since August 2023. Following his studies, he earned his doctorate in information systems at the University of Münster, after which he wrote his habilitation.

His work is devoted to understanding and shaping processes of change. With regard to “process science”, such processes are increasingly viewed outside of the business context. The analysis of digital footprints enables him to study and evaluate these in all areas of life and work, and to create new possibilities for action – in particular, by applying innovative technology like artificial intelligence. The objective is to come up with processes which establish new economic, environmental and social standards.

School of Business and Economics

Prof. Dr. Sebastian Wachs
(Faculty of Educational and Social Sciences)

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Faculty of Educational and Social Science

Prof. Dr. med. Carsten Weishaupt
(Faculty of Medicine)

Carsten Weishaupt has been Professor of Dermato-Oncology at the Department of Skin Diseases since 2023. He studied human medicine at the Universities of Münster and Vienna. He completed his doctorate at the University of Münster, where he also completed his specialist training as a dermatologist at the Department of Dermatology. Since 2012, Carsten Weishaupt has been head of the Skin Tumor Center at Münster University Hospital and teaches at the medical faculty.

Carsten Weishaupt began his scientific work with immunological work on antigen presentation before expanding his immunological focus to tumor immunology during a two-year research stay at the Harvard Skin Disease Research Center in Boston. With projects on the induction of inflammation in melanoma tissue, the role of prohormone convertases in melanoma and the role of neutrophils in the tumor environment, Carsten Weishaupt's research group has set itself the task of identifying new tumor escape mechanisms. The aim is to find new therapy targets in order to make the immunotherapy of melanoma more efficient.

Faculty of Medicine