Hanna Kokko and Heike Vallery: Scientists on the way to the top!

Hanna Kokko and Heike Vallery: Scientists on the way to the top!

On May 21, 2025, Prof. Dr. Hanna Kokko, a leading theoretical evolutionary biologist and Humboldt Professor at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU), was elected to the National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina. This election is considered one of the highest scientific honors in Germany and marks an important milestone in Kokko's career, which is characterized by outstanding achievements in science.

The Leopoldina, the oldest scientific and medical scholarly society in German-speaking countries, was founded in 1652 and became the German National Academy of Sciences in 2008. With around 1,700 members from more than 30 countries, it represents a wide range of expertise in almost all research areas. Scientists are selected through a multi-stage selection process based on their scientific merit, underscoring the importance and exclusivity of membership. presse.uni-mainz.de reports that Kokko will join the Section of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology in Class II: Life Sciences.

Outstanding scientific achievements

Hanna Kokko was born in Finland in 1971 and completed her doctorate in 1997 at the University of Helsinki, where she was already awarded for her dissertation. Her academic career took her to the University of Cambridge, the University of Glasgow, the University of Jyväskylä and the Australian National University before she worked as Professor of Evolutionary Ecology at the University of Zurich from 2014 to 2022. In 2023 she took up her Humboldt Professorship at JGU.

In addition to her membership in the Leopoldina, Kokko has also been a member of the Finnish Academy of Sciences since 2007 and became a member of the Australian Academy of Science in 2014 and the American Academy of Arts and Science in 2020. In 2023 she joined the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences. Her research focuses on the interfaces of theoretical and empirical biology, with the aim of understanding the interaction of evolutionary and ecological processes. She uses model calculations on the logic of evolution, for example in central questions of evolutionary biology such as the development of sexual reproduction and cooperative behavior.

Impressive research endeavors and memberships

The Leopoldina is not only a platform for promoting scientific research, but also an institution that works closely with politics and the public. How rwth-aachen.de reported, admission to this academy is seen as a special recognition of scientific work. Professor Heike Vallery, who moved from TU Delft to RWTH Aachen in 2023, recently acquired member status. Vallery is known for her work in robotics and control engineering, which has a direct impact on medical practice, particularly in rehabilitation.

The Leopoldina not only promotes science within Germany, but also represents German science abroad. This role is particularly important at a time when exchange and cooperation across national borders are becoming increasingly crucial. The network of around 1,700 members is proof of the academy's international appeal. The list of scientific academies includes many other important institutions that aim to promote scientific research and unite top scientists, such as the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen and the Saxon Academy of Sciences in Leipzig wikipedia.org.