About

Short biography
Gutenberg Chair for book and reading studies at the University of Mainz. Research interests focus on computational book studies and experimental reading studies.

Education
University of Munich, M.A. German studies, philosophy, musicology, and Jewish studies (1989)

University of Munich, Dr.phil. German studies, philosophy, German as a Foreign Language (1992)

University of Munich, Dr.phil.habil. German studies (2000)

Employment

Employment

1992-2002


Assistant professor for German studies, University of Munich

2002-2017

Chair for German studies, University of Göttingen

2017-2022

Current

Chair for Digital Humanities, University of Basel

Gutenberg chair of book studies, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz


Ad hoc

1990  Visiting Scholar, Princeton University

1996  Visiting Scholar, Hebrew University of Jerusalem

2000  Prize for the best second book, University of Munich

2020  Werner Heisenberg Medal, Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung

2021-2026 Fellow of the Gutenberg Research College, University of Mainz

since 2002  Visiting Professor, University of Trieste (2003), University of Bergamo (2004),
University of Coimbra (2006), University of Delhi (2011), Washington University in St. Louis (2012),
Institute for Advanced Study, Durham University (2015), Dipartimento di Psicologia e Scienze cognitive,
University of Trento (2015), Department of Computer Sciences, University of Warsaw (2017)

Professional organizations

Current

Board member, Committee on Scientific Library Services and Information Systems, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (2018-2025)

Board member, Ständige Kommission Digitalisierung, Hochschulrektorenkonferenz (2022-2026) 

Board member, Scientific commission, Union of Academies (2021-25)

Board of directors, Internationale Gutenberg-Gesellschaft

Board member of the Internationale Buchwissenschaftliche Gesellschaft

Member, Scientific Coordination Commitee: Collections

Board member, jury for the PhD programme, Cusanuswerk

Board member, SAB, Oxford Kafka Research Centre, University of Oxford

Board member, SAB, Deutsches Tagebucharchiv, Emmendingen

Board member, SAB, Schweizerisches Institut für Kinder- und Jugendmedien, Zürich

Elected member of the Göttingen Academy of Sciences and Humanities (elected, 2008)

Member of the International Association for the Empirical study of Literature and Media

Member of  Digital Humanities im deutschsprachigen Raum and Alliance of Digital Humanities Organizations

In the past

Chairmen, SAB German studies, DAAD – German Academic Exchange Service (2017-2020)

Chairmen, Anneliese Maier Award committee, Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (2014-2018)

Board member, selection committee, PhD award of the Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes (2015-2017)

Chairman, literary award of the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (2005-2017)

Board member, commission for literature, Federal State of Lower Saxony (2015-2017)

Chairmen, SAB, Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for the History and Theory of Biography (2012-2017)

Member of the working group „E-humanities„, European Federation of Academies of Sciences and Humanities (2012-2015)

Chairmen of the working group „electronic publishing„, Union of the German Academies (2012-2015)

Member of the SAB, Computer and Media Center CMS (2013-2014)

Member of the SAB, Gute Arbeit nach dem Boom (2013-2014)

Member of the SAB, Scholarly blogs hypotheses.org (2011-2014)

Member of the SAB, DM2E – Digitized Manuscripts to Europeana (2011-2014)

Chairmen of the Reimar Lüst award committee, Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (2011-2012)

Member of the DFG expert group for the evaluation of the distributed library system in Germany „Sondersammelgebiete“ (2009/2010)

Chairmen of the TransCoop program, Alexander von Humboldt-Foundation (2008-2010)

Board member, SAB, University Computing Centre GWDG (2008-2012)

Project Board Member for the European Science Foundation, Bibliometric Database Scoping Project (2008/2009)

Member of the SAB, Open Access Publishing in European Networks (2008-2010)

Member of the review board 105, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (elected, 2007-2011)

Member of the cross section review board, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (elected, 2009-2012)

Member of the subcommittee on electronic publishing, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (2008-2012)

Member of the SAB, „Göttinger Literaturherbst“ (2006-2010)

Member of the SAB, Zentrales Verzeichnis Deutscher Drucke (2005-2007)

Member of the SAB, Gleim-Haus, Halberstadt (2004-2010)

Reviewer, Agency for quality management through accreditation AQAS (2003-2008)

Committee coordinator, German-Israeli-Foundation (2002-2014)

Editorial activities

Associate Editor

Scientific Study of Literature

Editorial Boards

Revisionen. Grundbegriffe der Literaturtheorie

Études germaniques

In the past

Arbitrium. Zeitschrift für Rezensionen zur germanistischen Literaturwissenschaft

Journal of Literary Theory

Literaturstraße. Chinesisch-deutsches Jahrbuch für Sprache, Literatur und Kultur

Palaestra. Untersuchungen aus der deutschen und skandinavischen Philologie. Begründet von Erich Schmidt und Alois Brand