Gisela Kopp to Chair Die Junge Akademie

Internationalization, science policy, and creating a positive research environment are on the agenda

Gisela Kopp has been elected as the new Chair of Die Jung Akademie—an interdisciplinary academy of up-and-coming academics and artists in Germany. As Chair, Kopp will lead the Board of Die Junge Akademie and will represent the organization externally. Kopp, who is a biologist at the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior and the University of Konstanz, will hold the position for a one-year term.

“Die Junge Akademie has always provided an unusually open environment for new ideas to arise and solutions to be found – even for questions that first occur during interdisciplinary work,” says Kopp who studies sociality and evolution in primates at the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior (MPI-AB).

Die Junge Akademie was founded in 2000 as an academy for young academics across science and the arts in Germany. Its members aim to start conversations between science, art and society, and to generate momentum in discussions on science policy. Once a year, its members elect the members of the Board and the Chair of Die Junge Akademie.

The Board’s tasks include guiding the development of Die Junge Akademie in terms of both strategy and content, which is discussed in plenary sessions and put into practice by members in various formats and projects. The Board also supports the Chair, who heads the Board and represents Die Junge Akademie externally.

This is Kopp’s second term as a member of the Board. As the Board’s chair for the yaer 2023/2024, Kopp outlines her plans: “In the coming months we want to focus on internationalization practices and look at how research environments can be positively shaped. In addition, just like last year, we wish to significantly shape the discourse on research policy.”

In addition to her role at MPI-AB, Kopp is currently a fellow at the Zukunftskolleg and a member of the Department of Biology at the University of Konstanz.