Edelgard Bulmahn

Dr h. c. Edelgard Bulmahn was a member of the German Parliament for 30 years, from 1987 to October 2017, successfully securing a direct mandate in every election without exception. She was Vice President of the German Bundestag from 2013 to 2017. For more than 20 years she shaped Germany’s education, research and innovation policy in multiple roles, several times as chair in parliamentary commitees of the federal parliament. From 1998 to late 2005, she served as German Federal Minister of Education and Research. During her tenure, she implemented the Bologna Process, reformed the student’s funding and loans system (BAföG), set up junior professorships and implemented major funding programs especially for young scientists such as the Sofja Kovalevskaja prize or the Emmy Noether program. Moreover, she initiated the very successful German Universities Excellence Initiative and set up the Pact for Research and Innovation to foster the competitiveness of the German science system. She also initiated a nation-wide program in order to establish so called all-day schools in Germany to improve education and individual support of children and youths. She widened her portfolio as a member of the commitee for Foreign Policy over the last years e.g. as the SPD spokeswoman on the Subcommittee for Civilian Crisis Prevention, Conflict Management and Cross-linked Action. From 2013 to October 2017 she was Vice President of the German Bundestag. Moreover, she is involved in a number of boards of trustees of science and research institutions and none profit organizations, e. g. the German Institute for Economic Research, the Berghof Foundation and the Mechanical Engineering Industry association’s Impulse foundation. Edelgard Bulmahn is the chair of the board of trustees of Humboldt University and Vicechair of Telekom Foundation and Lower Saxony Foundation.