Prof. Dr. Karin Hoisl and Dipl.-Phil. Christiane Koch Elected New Equal Opportunities Commissioners of the University of Mannheim

On 25 June, the Senate of the University of Mannheim unanimously elected Prof. Dr. Karin Hoisl, holder of the Chair of Organization and Innovation, as new central equal opportunity commissioner. Christiane Koch, head of the Department of English for Business Administration, was  unanimously elected as her deputy equal opportunity commissioner. They succeed Prof. Dr. Astrid Lembke, who is stepping down at the end of the spring semester. Their term of office begins on 1 October 2025 and lasts two years.

“I would like to thank Astrid Lembke for her great commitment and outstanding work. With her expertise and commitment, she has significantly contributed to promoting equal opportunities at our university,” said President Prof. Dr. Thomas Fetzer. “Gender equality is a central task of our university. The new central equal opportunity commissioner Karin Hoisl is a qualified expert in innovation and organizational research, who also extensively researches equality and knowledge management. I am very much looking forward to working with her and am convinced that, together with Christiane Koch, she will contribute considerably to our objective of equal opportunity.” 

The equal opportunity commissioners support the President’s Office in its constitutional mandate to ensure equal opportunities for women and men and to eliminate disadvantages for women at all academic career levels. This includes strengthening the role of women in research, supporting young female researchers as well as ensuring the reconciliation of work and family life. 

About the new equal opportunity commissioners

Prof. Dr. Karin Hoisl has held the Chair of Organization and Innovation at the University of Mannheim since 2015. She has also been a professor in the Economics and Management of Inventive Processes at the Copenhagen Business School (part-time) since 2014 and a Research Affiliate at the Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition in Munich since 2015. Her main fields of research include areas such as innovation and intellectual property, women in STEM, digital transformation and the future of work.

Dipl.-Phil. Christiane Koch has been Akademische Oberrätin and the head of the Department of English for Business Administration at the University of Mannheim since 2015. She is also an academic advisor for the bachelor’s degree program in Culture and Economy: English/American Studies. She studied in Mannheim and Boston. She worked for a German medium-sized high-tech company for several years and also gained experience in the project management of the implementation of selection processes at the University of Mannheim.