Research

Ute Frevert is a German historian. She researches modern and contemporary history. Her work focuses on the history of modern societies and their cultural systems. The construction and interpretation of gender differences play a significant role in her work.

Frevert examines which fields of action were assigned to women and men and how (and why) these assignments changed. In this context, she works on topics such as the social and cultural coding of violence, as in duels and in the military, or the production of honor and empathy.

In addition, she has worked on the development of European identities and identifications and on the history of political communication, especially between citizens, politicians and state representatives. In 2008, she established the history of emotions as a new field of research situated between historical science and psychology. In this context, she has written books on modern politics of humiliation, on practices of trust, and on the power of emotions in the 20th and early 21st century.

Career

• since 2008 Scientific Member of the Max Planck Society and Director, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin, Germany
• 2003-2007 Professor for German History, Yale University, USA    
• 1997-2003 Professor of History, University of Bielefeld, Germany
• 1992-1997 Professor of Modern History, University of Konstanz, Germany        
• 1991-1992 Professor of Modern History, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany
• 1989 Habilitation in Modern History, University of Bielefeld, Germany
• 1982 PhD, University of Bielefeld, Germany    
• 1977 First Degree, Humanities, University of Bielefeld, Germany
• 1971-1977 History and Social Sciences Studies, University of Münster, University of Bielefeld, Germany; London School of Economics, UK

Functions

• since 2023 President of the Max Weber Foundation
• since 2020 Member of the Council of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities
• 2020-2023 Secretary of class IV humanities, behavioral, and social sciences, German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina
• since 2018 Member of the Board of Trustees of the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, Israel
• since 2017 Deputy Member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Centre for Science Studies, German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina
• 2017-2019 Member of the Advisory Board of Deutschlandjahr (Year of Germany) USA 2018/2019 of the Federal Foreign Office, the Goethe-Institut and the Federation of German Industries (BDI)
• since 2016 Member of the Council of The Society for the History of Emotions
• since 2016 Member of the Board of Trustees of the Körber Foundation
• 2014-2017 Chairperson of the Scientific Council of the Max Planck Society
• since 2015 Member of the University Council Konstanz (December 2016 - June 2020: Chairperson)
• 2013-2018 Member of the Board of Governors of the German-Israeli Foundation for Scientific Research and Development (GIF)
• 2013-2016 Member of the Board of Trustees for “Bildung und Kultur” (Education and Culture) in the Advisory Board of the Foundation of Deutsche Bahn AG
• since 2012 Spokesperson and Principal Investigator of the International Max Planck Research School for Moral Economies of Modern Societies
• 2012-2017 Member of the Board of Trustees of the Foundation of the Deutsches Hygiene Museum, Dresden, Germany
• 2012-2014 Member of the Advisory Board of the Centre Marc Bloch, Berlin, Germany
• 2012-2014 Deputy Chairperson of the Scientific Council of the Max Planck Society
• 2011-2017 Member of the Advisory Board of the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for the History and Theory of Biography, Vienna, Austria    
• 2011-2019 Member of the Advisory Board of the German Historical Institute, Washington DC, USA (since November 2016: Chairperson)
• 2010-2014 Member of the Board of Trustees of the Humboldt-Viadrina School of Governance, Berlin, Germany
• 2009-2015 Member of the International Advisory Board of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation
• 2009-2012 Member of the Selection Committee of the American Academy in Berlin, Germany
• since 2008 Member of the Board of Advisors of the Einstein Forum, Potsdam, Germany
• 2008-2013 Member of the Advisory Board of the Zukunftskolleg at the University of Konstanz, Germany
• 2008-2012 Member of the Advisory Board of the “Dahlem Konferenzen” at the Freie Universität Berlin, Germany
• 2007-2012 Member of the Board of Governors of the Jacobs University Bremen, Germany    
• 2007-2013 Member of the Board of Trustees of the Leibniz Centre for Contemporary History Potsdam, Germany
• 2007-2015 Member of the Board of Trustees of the German History Competition organised by the Körber Foundation    
• since 2003 Member of the Advisory Board of the Institute for Human Sciences, Vienna, Austria
• 2001-2003 Spokesperson of the Research Group “Politics as Communication in History”, University of Bielefeld, Germany
• 2000-2006 Member of the Nominations Committee of the German Research Foundation for the Leibniz Programme
• 2000-2009 Member of the Advisory Board of the International Institute for Social History, Amsterdam, Netherlands
• 2000-2003 Member of the Board of Trustees of the German National Academic Foundation
• 1999-2003 Mentor, German National Academic Foundation
• 1999-2002 Member of the Baden-Württemberg Federal State Research Council
• 1998-2001 Member of the Advisory Board, Goethe Institute
• 1998-2000 Member of the German-American Academic Council Foundation
• 1997-2009 Member of the Advisory Board, Centre for Interdisciplinary Research, University of Bielefeld, Germany
• 1997-2007 Member of the Advisory Board of the German History Competition organised by the Körber Foundation
• 1996-2000 Panel Expert for Modern History at the German Research Foundation
• 1996-1998 Member of the Executive Committee of the German Historians' Association
• since 1990 Member of the Working Group for Modern Social History

Honours and Memberships

• 2021 Ernst-Hellmut-Vits-Prize
• 2020 Sigmund Freud Prize for Academic Prose of the German Academy for Language and Literature
• 2018 Honorary doctorate, University of Tampere, Finland
• 2016 Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany 1st class
• 2013 Corresponding Fellow of the British Academy for the Humanities and Social Sciences, London, UK
• since 2009 Member of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities
• since 2004 Member of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina
• 2004-2005 Fellow, Wissenschaftskolleg Berlin, Germany
• 2000-2001 Fellow, Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, Stanford, USA
• 1998 Leibniz Award, German Research Foundation
• 1989-1990 Fellow, Wissenschaftskolleg, Berlin, Germany
• 1989 Habilitation Scholarship, German Research Foundation
• 1979-1981 Doctoral Scholarship, German National Academic Foundation
• 1972-1978 Scholarship, German National Academic Foundation