Holger Hermanns appears as the new director of Dagstuhl Castle!

Holger Hermanns appears as the new director of Dagstuhl Castle!

Holger Hermanns will be appointed scientific director of Schloss Dagstuhl - Leibniz Center for Informatics on May 1, 2025. He succeeds Professor Raimund Seidel, who will take on the role of Vice President for Sustainable Development and Strategy at Saarland University in the future. This change at the top of the renowned center comes at a time when Schloss Dagstuhl, which has supported computer science research since 1990, attracts over 3,500 international researchers per year. As an internationally recognized scientist, Hermanns brings a wide range of expertise in the areas of modeling and verification of concurrent and resource-adaptive systems.

Hermanns' research applications include innovative projects such as the wireless braking of bicycles as well as the decentralized stabilization of energy networks and the energy-optimal operation of small satellites. Over the last eleven years, Seidel has successfully led the center through the challenges of the pandemic and has significantly shaped the internationally valued research infrastructure. Hermanns, who has been a regular participant in the center's scientific meetings for decades, has also served as chairman of the support association and the board of trustees.

Hermanns' career and awards

Hermanns studied computer science in Germany and applied mathematics in France and received his doctorate in 1998 from the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg. His academic career initially took him to the University of Twente before he became a professor at Saarland University in 2003. He has also held visiting professorships in cities such as Grenoble, Guangzhou and Copenhagen. His numerous awards include an honor from the European Research Council (ERC). He was also accepted into the Academia Europaea in 2013 and initiated the DFG Collaborative Research Center CPEC in 2019.

In total, Hermanns has raised over 25 million euros in research funding from various consortia, which underlines its recognized position in science.

Dagstuhl Castle and the NFDI initiatives

Dagstuhl Castle will also be an active part of the National Research Data Infrastructure (NFDI) for data science and artificial intelligence. This is done as part of the NFDI4DataScience initiative, which was decided on July 2, 2021 by the Joint Science Conference (GWK). The funding amounts to a double-digit million amount over a period of five years. This initiative aims to create systematic indexing, networking and open provision of research data. The results of the NFDI consortium are made available and maintained as an open research data corpus and knowledge graph for the computer science community.

Through close collaboration with leading research infrastructure providers in Germany, Dagstuhl Castle will further develop and expand its renowned research infrastructures. This is an important step in the Center's goal to play a leading role in the global research community.

DFG and the future of information infrastructures

The German Research Foundation (DFG) supports the development of a nationally coordinated system of information infrastructures, which is essential for digital research practice. In a recently published discussion paper dated January 29, 2025, challenges and areas of action for the development and operation of these infrastructures are analyzed. This includes optimizing the connectivity of information infrastructures, encouraging cooperative operations and securing long-term operations.

The DFG is also planning a systematic dialogue process to clarify roles and responsibilities in the scientific community. The aim is to identify new questions and develop solutions to further improve the research landscape. The five theses on the future of information infrastructure should serve as a starting point for this dialogue.

It is clear that with Holger Hermanns taking over the management, a new era is beginning for Schloss Dagstuhl, which will not only advance research, but also make an important contribution to progressive developments in the field of information infrastructures.

Further information about the changes at Dagstuhl Castle can be found on the Saarland University website uni-saarland.de and the NFDI initiatives dagstuhl.de as well as the latest developments from the DFG dfg.de can be viewed.