Matthias Kleiner becomes the new president of the Leibniz Association

The engineering scientist Prof. Dr. Matthias Kleiner (58) was elected the new president of the Leibniz Association at the 19^th member’s meeting on Friday last week (29^th of November). He had already been nominated unanimously as candidate by the Leibniz committee in April this year. On 1 July 2014, Kleiner will officially take up his position and thereby succeed the sociologist Karl Ulrich Mayer, who is the first full-time president of the Leibniz Association since July 2010.

Matthias Kleiner was born in Recklinghausen. He studied mechanical engineering at the University of Dortmund, where he also gained his PhD and habilitation. From 1994 to 1998, he was professor at the Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus. Subsequently he was appointed to the University of Dortmund, where he since holds the chair for Metal Forming. From 2007 to 2012 Matthias Kleiner was president of the German Research Association (DFG). He is member of numerous national and international academies and advisory councils and also works as juror and reviewer for research programs as well as bi- and multinational collaborations.