Five new members elected to the Academy of Sciences and Literature | Mainz

The Academy of Sciences and Literature has admitted five new members. Biologist Susanne Foitzik and English scholar Sibylle Baumbach are now full members. Physical chemist Pavel Jungwirth, English scholar Julia Kühn and theatre scholar Meike Wagner were elected as corresponding members.

Prof. Dr Sibylle Baumbach has held the Chair of English Literature and Culture at the Institute of Literary Studies at the University of Stuttgart since 2018. Previously, she was a university professor of English literature and cultural studies at the University of Innsbruck. Since 2023, she has also been president of the German Shakespeare Society. In 2024, she was awarded an ERC Advanced Grant for her project 'LitAttention.' From 2013 to 2014, she was spokesperson for the Young Academy of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities and the Leopoldina. She is a full member of the Humanities and Social Sciences Class.

Prof. Dr Susanne Foitzik, born in 1970, has held a professorship in evolutionary biology at Johannes Gutenberg University since 2010, where she is currently Vice-Dean for Research in the Department of Biology. Prior to this, she was Professor of Behavioural Ecology at LMU Munich since 2004. Her research focuses on social evolution, genomics and behavioural ecology of social insects. Susanne Foitzik is also involved in science policy, including as a member of the DFG Senate and the ERC Panel LS8, as spokesperson for a DFG Research Training Group, and in the field of science communication. She is a full member of the Mathematics and Natural Sciences Class.

Prof. Dr Pavel Jungwirth, born in 1966, is Distinguished Chair at the Institute of Organic Chemistry of the Czech Academy of Sciences. He has also been a professor at the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics at Charles University in Prague since 2004. Between 2020 and 2022, he was President of the Learned Society of the Czech Republic. In 2022, he received an ERC Advanced Grant for the project 'Doing Charges Right: Modelling Ion-Controlled Biological Processes with the Correct Toolbox'. He is a corresponding member of the Mathematics and Natural Sciences Class.

Prof. Dr Julia Kühn, born in 1975, has held the Chair of Modern English Literature at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands since 2024. Prior to that, she was Professor, Vice-Dean for Teaching and Students, and Head of English Language, Culture and Literature at the University of Hong Kong, and Visiting Professor of English Literature and Culture at the University of Aix-Marseille. From 2016 to 2022, Julia Kühn was Director and Co-Chair of the Hong Kong International Literary Festival and from 2007 to 2013 Director of the Asian Literary Prize. She is a corresponding member of the Humanities and Social Sciences Class.

Prof. Dr Meike Wagner, born in 1971, has held the Chair of Theatre Studies at Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich since 2022. She was Secretary General of the International Federation for Theatre Research from 2018 to 2025 and has been an elected member of the Executive Committee since 2025. In 2021, she received an ERC Advanced Grant for the project 'Performing Citizenship'. Meike Wagner is also editor of the journal 'double. Magazin für Puppen-, Figuren- und Objekttheater' (double. Magazine for Puppet, Figure and Object Theatre). She is a corresponding member of the Humanities and Social Sciences Class.

The scholarly society of the Academy of Sciences and Literature is divided into three classes: the Mathematics and Natural Sciences Class, the Humanities and Social Sciences Class, and the Literature and Music Class. Each class comprises up to 50 full and corresponding members.