Academy member Volker Mosbrugger holds the 2026 Johannes Gutenberg Endowed Professorship

Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Volker Mosbrugger, member of the Mathematics and Natural Sciences Class of the Academy of Sciences and Literature, is the holder of the 26th Johannes Gutenberg Endowed Professorship. At the University of Mainz, he will pursue and discuss with his audience the question of where our "world in disorder" is heading in a series of ten public lectures during the 2026 summer semester. The lecture series will begin with the opening event on Tuesday, April 28, 2026, on the campus of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz. Nine further lectures will follow on Tuesday evenings in the university's largest lecture hall (RW1).

Earth system scientist, biologist, and geologist Volker Mosbrugger taught as a professor of paleontology and historical geology at the Universities of Tübingen and Frankfurt. From 2005 to 2020, he headed the Senckenberg Society for Nature Research, one of the world's most important institutions for nature and biodiversity research with eight institutes, three museums, and 850 employees. Volker Mosbrugger has been in "active retirement" since 2021. Among other things, he coordinates the major 'Research Initiative for the Conservation of Biodiversity' of the Federal Ministry of Research, Technology, and Space (BMFTR), is president of the long-established Polytechnic Society, which is committed to the sustainable development of the FrankfurtRhineMain metropolitan region, and is involved in science communication, for example as head of the Königstein Forum.

In his research interests, Volker Mosbrugger sees himself as a "natural scientist" in the tradition of Alexander von Humboldt. His research focuses on the evolutionary history of organisms, ecosystems, the climate system, and the relationship between humans and nature. In these geo-historical analyses, he always focuses on a systemic understanding and the question of how a sustainable human-nature system can be designed so that human capital, produced capital, and natural capital can develop in a sustainable manner. His global research has a regional focus on Europe, Latin America, and China, particularly in the Xinjiang and Tibet regions. With this focus, Volker Mosbrugger was also a co-founder of the Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Center in Frankfurt, the Senckenberg Center for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment in Tübingen, and the international Third Pole Environment Program.

The Association of Friends of Mainz University established the Johannes Gutenberg Endowed Professorship as a non-profit foundation in 2000 to mark the 600th anniversary of Johannes Gutenberg's birth. It is based at the Johannes Gutenberg University's Studium Generale.