Stefan Rensing becomes Vice President for Research and Innovation

The University of Freiburg has chosen its future Vice President for Research and Innovation: at a joint session the Senate and University Council voted by a majority for cell biologist Prof. Dr. Stefan Rensing from the University of Marburg. “I am grateful for the vote of confidence and delighted about my new role which I am eager to take on. As vice president I hope I can give back to my Alma Mater something of what the university invested in my scientific education,” says Rensing.

“In Stefan Rensing we are gaining a first-class scientist who has already impressively proven his ability to organize and lead major joint research projects. In addition, he has wide-ranging experience both as an applicant and as a reviewer with relevant funding agencies at a national and a European level,” says rector Prof. Dr. Kerstin Krieglstein. “He knows our university well and at the same time brings a fresh pair of eyes – I look forward to working together with him in future with the shared aim of developing the research profile of the university and stimulating innovation.”

Stefan Rensing is Professor of Cell Biology and Dean of the Department of Biology at the University of Marburg. He studied Biology at the University of Freiburg and started his scientific career here: following his PhD in Cell Biology in 1995 and his habilitation in Bioinformatics and Systems Biology in 2007, he went on to research at the Cluster of Excellence BIOSS – Centre for Biological Signalling Studies and the Freiburg Initiative for Systems Biology (FRISYS), before taking up the post of Professor of Cell Biology at the University of Marburg in 2012. In his research he looks at the evolution of plants, studying mosses using genetics and bioinformatics methods. Rensing is the president of the international molecular moss science society (iMOSS) and speaker of the section Plant Physiology and Molecular Biology in the Deutsche Botanische Gesellschaft (German Society for Plant Sciences, DBG).

As Vice President for Research and Innovation, Stefan Rensing is following in the footsteps of cell biologist Prof. Dr. Gunther Neuhaus, who held the post from 2012 to his retirement at the end of September 2020. Significant achievements during his term in office included attracting funding for the Clusters of Excellence CIBSS – Centre for Integrative Biological Signalling Studies and livMatS – Living, Adaptive and Energy-autonomous Materials Systems, establishing the High-Performance Center Sustainability and the Department of Sustainable Systems Engineering (INATECH) in cooperation with the Fraunhofer Society, the strategic reorientation of the Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies (FRIAS), the integration of the Arnold Bergstraesser Institute for socio-cultural research, which together with FRIAS is setting up the Merian Institute for Advanced Studies in Africa (MIASA) in Ghana, and the integration of the Deutsche Volksliedarchiv as a center of popular culture and music.

Given the pandemic conditions, the two electoral bodies held their meeting as a video conference. Ballots were cast using the University of Freiburg’s BSCW server.
 

Website of Stefan Rensing’s work group