Press release: President takes office

No. 36 - 03.03.2025

Professor Axel Schölmerich: leading the University of Göttingen since 1 March 2025

Professor Axel Schölmerich took office as interim President of the University of Göttingen on 1 March 2025. In February, the University Senate unanimously agreed for him to take on the duties of president on an interim basis to bridge the gap until a new president takes up office.

“I am very much looking forward to working with the University and on the Göttingen Campus,” said Schölmerich. “In the coming weeks, I will meet with the various stakeholders and also get to know Göttingen outside of academia. My initial discussions have been very positive and I sense a great willingness among everyone to look ahead and to make things work.”

Axel Schölmerich, born in 1952, was rector of the Ruhr University Bochum from 2015 to 2021. He was appointed Professor of Psychology in Bochum in 1997, having previously spent five years at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, US, and two years at the University of Halle-Wittenberg. His research interests include in particular the social and emotional development of children in different cultural contexts. In the course of his work, he has been involved in various roles in academic administration.