A Culture of responsibility instead of over-regulation
The German academic and scientific system faces both shrinking amounts of funding as well as increasingly complex regulations. This could mean that academic and scientific organisations are further limited in their scope of action. Over-regulation may result in talented academics and scientists staying away from Germany, delayed funding plans, and less innovation.
Last edited: 16. March 2026
Publications of the working group
The causes and effects of over-regulation and increased bureaucracy, as well the scope of action needed by the research and teaching communities, was the focus of the Leopoldina workshop “Over-regulation of Science and Academia” in Berlin on 7 June 2024. The event kicked off Leopoldina’s continued systematic examination of this issue. The working group aims to identify over-regulation and the areas it particularly affects, to reflect on the role of academic and scientific institutions, and to name specific principles and incentives for reducing over-regulation in science and academia.
Spokespersons of the working group
Prof. (ETHZ)* Dr.
Gerald H. Haug ▸
- Earth Sciences
- Election year 2012
Professor Dr
Thomas Krieg ▸
- Internal Medicine and Dermatology
- Election year 1997
Further members of the working group
- Prof Dr Marietta Auer ML, Max Planck Institute for Legal History and Legal Theory, Frankfurt a.M.
- Prof Dr Andreas Barner, Honorary Senator of the Leopoldina
- Franziska Broer, Secretary General of the Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres
- Prof Dr Udo Di Fabio, Director of the Institute for Public Law (Department of Constitutional Law), Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn
- Prof Dr Dieter Engels, Chairman of the University Council of the University of Bonn
- Prof Dr Peter Gruss ML, former President of the Max Planck Society
- Franziska Hornig, Secretary General of the Leopoldina
- Dr Waltraud Kreutz-Gers, Commercial Director of the Mainz University Medical Centre
- Dr Wilhelm Krull, Chairman of the Senate of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities
- Prof. Dr Stefan Kühl, Professor of Organisational Sociology at the University of Bielefeld
- Dr Michael Stückradt, former Chancellor of the University of Cologne
- Prof Dr Andreas Voßkuhle ML, Director of the Institute of Political Science and Philosophy of Law, Department 1 (Political Science), University of Freiburg
ML = Member of the Leopoldina
Contact us
Kontakt PD Dr. Stefan Artmann
