External Advisory Board Meeting 2024

On 22 November the annual meeting of the external advisory board (EAB) took place at ZESS. We were especially happy that both the head of the university, rector Prof Stefanie Reese, and dean, Prof Holger Schönherr, made the time to join us.

The feedback was overwhelmingly positive regarding third party projects, publications and phds. Several members of the external advisory board mentioned the very noticeable shift in quality regarding outreach activities.

The meeting also marked some changes in the team – we welcome two new members and two new speakers: Prof Inka Müller (Hochschule Bochum) and Prof Karl Joachim Ebeling (University of Ulm) join the external advisory board. Long standing members Prof Peter Eisert (HU Berlin) and Prof Klaus Schilling (University of Würzburg) were elected as speaker and co-speaker respectively.

At the same time, we have to say farewell to Prof Dirk Söffker (University of Duisburg-Essen), who joined ZESS EAB in the 9th session on 6 November 2015 and who was elected co-speaker in the 11th session on 10 November 2017. He steps down both as a member and as co-speaker.

While Prof Heberling (RWTH Aachen), who was elected speaker alongside Prof Söffker in November 2017, also steps down from this role, he will continue to serve on the advisory board.

We are extremely grateful for the outstanding work of both Prof Söfffker and Prof Heberling as speakers, which was invaluable for ZESS, especially so during the more recent times of reshaping the institute. We are glad, Prof Heberling is going to be back next year and wish Prof Söffker all the best for his future endeavours with heartfelt thanks!