In her speech on assuming office, the Leopoldina’s first female President in its 373-year history, President Bettina Rockenbach, said: “I, along with all members of the Academy, owe great thanks to my predecessor Gerald Haug. He has made the Leopoldina even more visible as an advisor of politics and society. I will resolutely continue the future-oriented transformation to providing anticipative science-based advice to society and politics. Science is essential for the early identification of looming crises and enables the improvement of crisis defence and prevention options. I will continue to reinforce this focus of our advisory work based on the interdisciplinary scientific endeavours of our members.”
GYA membership, Executive Committee, and Office staff warmly welcome new President Bettina Rockenbach. We look forward to working with her to support the role of science academies – including national young academies and similar initiatives around the world – in providing science policy advice to governments and civil society stakeholders.
GYA Co-Chair Chandra Shekhar Sharma (Indian Institute of Technology, India) and GYA Managing Director Beate Wagner offer President Rockenbach their personal greetings and congratulations.
President Rockenbach became a Member of the Leopoldina in the Section Economics and Empirical Social Sciences in 2013, and has been the Deputy Senator of this section since 2019. Since 2011, she has been the Professor of Experimental and Behavioral Economics at the University of Cologne/Germany, and Director of the Reinhard Selten Institute at the Universities of Bonn and Cologne since 2018. Her research focuses on the design of mechanisms to promote cooperation in social dilemma situations and on conditions for socially responsible economic action.
More information on President Rockenbach is available on the Leopoldina website here.