idw – Informationsdienst Wissenschaft
Nachrichten, Termine, Experten
Nachrichten, Termine, Experten
idw - Informationsdienst
Wissenschaft
The Extended Academic Senate has decided to reelect the current president and mathematician to the position
Professor of mathematics Günter M. Ziegler has been reelected president of Freie Universität Berlin. During a session of the Extended Academic Senate on Wednesday, January 28, 2026, Ziegler received 39 of 59 votes cast in the first ballot. The 61 members of the Extended Academic Senate were entitled to vote, and the absolute majority, or 31 votes, was required to win. Günter M. Ziegler has been in office since 2018.
Professor Ziegler thanked the Extended Academic Senate following his reelection: “I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the Academic Senate for continuing to place their trust in me. This means that I have a strong mandate to represent the university in these turbulent times. Freie Universität Berlin stands for excellent research, outstanding teaching, and vibrant international exchange, while also serving as a space where freedom, responsibility, and diversity go hand in hand. In the coming years and together with the Executive Board, academic departments, central facilities, and all members of the university, I would like to push ahead with the further development of Freie Universität Berlin to create optimal conditions for students, researchers, and employees, strong alliances within Berlin’s scientific community, and a pronounced focus on scientific excellence, research-oriented teaching, and social responsibility.”
The president of Freie Universität is appointed by the Berlin Senate; the term of office lasts four years from July 6 of the election year. The Central Election Committee requests that the Berlin Senate appoint the candidate as soon as the final results are announced. Following the president’s official appointment, the process to nominate the executive vice president and further vice presidents is carried out. It is planned that the president, executive vice president, and other vice presidents will take office on July 6, 2026. The current Executive Board will continue to conduct their official duties until their successors take up their new positions.
Professor Günter M. Ziegler
Günter M. Ziegler was born in Munich in 1963. After first studying mathematics and physics at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, he earned his doctorate in mathematics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge (USA) in 1987. After four postdoc years at the University of Augsburg and a research stay at Institut Mittag-Leffler in Stockholm, he came to Berlin in 1992, where he worked at the Konrad Zuse Zentrum (today’s Zuse Institute Berlin). Ziegler received his postdoctoral university instruction qualification (Habilitation) at Technische Universität Berlin, where he was professor of mathematics from January 1995 to February 2011. He began conducting research and teaching at Freie Universität Berlin in March 2011 and commenced a concurrent position as adjunct professor at Technische Universität Berlin in May 2017. In 2006, he led the process of establishing the Berlin Mathematical School as a joint graduate school of Berlin’s three major universities. Professor Ziegler began his first term as president of Freie Universität Berlin on July 6, 2018. From November 2018 to November 2020, he was the first spokesperson for the Berlin University Alliance, a role he has since reassumed (2024–2026).
As a mathematician, Günter M. Ziegler’s work has focused on problems in discrete geometry, especially the theory of polyhedra. He has also specialized in algebraic and topological methods in combinatorics and problems of optimization. In 2001, Ziegler was awarded the German Research Foundation’s Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize for his research. In 2008, he received the Communicator Award from the German Research Foundation and the Stifterverband für die deutsche Wissenschaft (Donors’ Association for the Promotion of Sciences and Humanities in Germany). In 2010, he received an Advanced Grant from the European Research Council; and in 2017, he was the recipient of the Berlin Science Prize, awarded by the Governing Mayor of Berlin.
Ziegler is a member of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities, the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, and acatech – Germany’s National Academy of Engineering Sciences. He is also a fellow of the American Mathematical Society. From 2006 to 2008, Ziegler was the president of the German Mathematical Society, where he still serves as a member of the executive board. In addition, he was a member of the board of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities from 2010 to 2018 and a member of the senate of the German Research Foundation from 2014 to 2018.
Ziegler is committed to promoting a diverse and lively public image of mathematics. He was instrumental in launching the “Year of Mathematics” in Germany in 2008, and currently heads the German Mathematical Society’s Media Office for Mathematics, its Office for Networking Schools and Universities, as well as the MIP.labor. From 2021 to 2022 he chaired the steering committee of Wissenschaft im Dialog (Science in Dialogue, WiD). He has been a member of the board of Urania Berlin since 2019 and chairperson of its board of trustees since 2025.
Ziegler has published numerous essays and books on mathematics and popular science. Together with Martin Aigner, he wrote Proofs from THE BOOK, which is available in fifteen languages. In 2018, the book was awarded the Steele Prize for Exposition by the American Mathematical Society.
Office of Communication and Marketing, Freie Universität Berlin, Tel.: +49 (0)30 838 73180, Email: presse@fu-berlin.de
https://www.fu-berlin.de/en/einrichtungen/praesidium/praesident/index.html
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