Professor André Brodocz elected as the new President

Professor Andrea Dorothea Bührmann, Chair of the University Council, who had chaired the selection committee, is delighted that Professor Brodocz stood for election once again when the post of President could not be filled after the first round of voting: “With him, the University of Erfurt gains a President who has been committed to the university’s interests for many years – whether as a senator, a member of the University Council, a Dean or, most recently, as Vice-President. Moreover, he is an outstanding analyst and observer of Thuringia’s political landscape, within which he also has an excellent network of contacts. This sets the course for the University of Erfurt’s continued success. I look forward to working with him.”

In André Brodocz, the University of Erfurt has, for the first time, elected a President from within its own ranks. He is also an academic who has been working at universities in eastern Germany for almost 30 years now and has always made his home there. After studying political science, sociology and modern German literature at Philipps University of Marburg, he spent twelve years as a research employee at Dresden University of Technology under Professor Hans Vorländer, where he was awarded a doctorate “summa cum laude” and completed his habilitation in 2007. Since 2009, he has been Professor of Political Theory at the University of Erfurt. He is currently head of a DFG-funded research project on the reconfiguration of law and politics in the constitutional transformations of Bolivia and Ecuador, as well as a project funded by the Gerda Henkel Foundation on ecological conflicts and claims to representation. He has been re-elected several times as Dean of the Faculty of Economics, Law and Social Sciences and, since February 2024, has served as Vice President for Research and Academic Careers. 

André Brodocz is “extremely” pleased about his election, as the University of Erfurt has “grown very dear to his heart”. He is well aware “that we are facing some very challenging years ahead. With the framework agreement, the state government has set out a funding plan that will result in massive staff cuts. We must ensure that this does not primarily affect the posts of research employees – and the innovations in research and teaching associated with each new generation of young academics – simply because these are mostly on fixed-term contracts. Here, all of us together as a university have a responsibility for the future viability of our society, which we can only fulfil successfully in collaboration with the political sphere. And that is precisely what this will be about. So let’s get on with it – together.”

Until Professor André Brodocz takes up his post, Professor Walter Bauer-Wabnegg will continue to lead the University of Erfurt as interim head.