February 12, 2018 | News | News

New Chief Research Coordinator

© MPIDR

On February 15, 2018, Beatrice Michaelis succeeds André Schmandke and takes over the management of the Institute. Previously, the 38-year-old coordinated the Max Planck International Research Network on Aging (MaxNetAging) for almost two years.

Beatrice Michaelis grew up on the island of Rügen. She studied English and American Studies and Medieval German literature at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and the University of Westminster in London, and received her PhD in Medieval German literature. Subsequently, she was a postdoc at Justus-Liebig University, Giessen, and at the same time research coordinator of the doctoral school “International Graduate Centre for the Study of Culture”. The school is supported by the German Excellence Initiative.

In 2014, she returned to Berlin to work at the “Young Academy”. The “Young Academy” is a joint project of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities and the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina. Beatrice Michaelis coordinated, inter alia, the interdisciplinary working groups.

In her own research, Beatrice Michaelis has looked at and published in many different fields, ranging from the literature of the high and late middle ages, to gender and queer studies, postcolonial theory in medieval studies, intersectionality, narratology, historical emotion research, and the  history of science.

"I am now looking forward to serving as the Chief Research Coordinator of the MPIDR in a new and exciting phase, not least due to the arrival of Emilio Zagheni as the new director," says Michaelis.

Schmandke also headed MaxNetAging before taking over the management of the MPIDR in 2016. He now moves to Berlin and becomes Deputy Head of Strategic Research and Development Management at the Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, which is subordinate to the Federal Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs. 

Contact

Head of the Department of Public Relations and Publications

Silvia Leek

E-Mail

+49 381 2081-143

Science Communication Editor

Silke Schulz

E-Mail

+49 381 2081-153

What next?

To the Home Page

The Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research (MPIDR) in Rostock is one of the leading demographic research centers in the world. It's part of the Max Planck Society, the internationally renowned German research society.