Cornelia Woll shares vision for her presidency and career insights in FAS

In a feature in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung (FAS) from 28 August, Hertie School President Cornelia Woll shares insights into her career path, her first months in office and her plans for her presidency. 

“I am deeply convinced of the societal relevance of the social sciences,” Woll says. However, in order to prove this relevance, research findings from the social sciences need to be presented to the public, she adds. “Here, the Hertie School [...] can also do more,” noted the Professor of International Political Economy, whose strategic goals include bridging the gap between academia and politics. 

Having previously held positions at Sciences Po in Paris, Woll acknowledges the criticism in Berlin on Germany’s lack of think tanks. “With the Jacques Delors Centre, we have a think tank based at the Hertie School,” Woll says. "But universities have different research goals and timelines than think tanks, so we have to work out how the two can best complement each other.”

Woll also shares her other strategic goals for the next years with FAS: equal educational opportunities regardless of financial and geographic background and advanced fundraising activities.

Cornelia Woll has served as the President of the Hertie School since March 2022. Previously, she was the President of the Academic Board and Professor of Political Science at Sciences Po in Paris. She also worked and studied in different capacities at the Max Planck Institute, at the University of Bremen, in Cologne and in Chicago.

Read the whole article (in German) here.

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