Prof. Dr. Ulrich Thiel appointed as the first "Tenure Track Professor" at TUK

With the appointment to the professorship for Algebra, Prof. Dr. Ulrich Thiel becomes the first "Tenure Track Professor" at TUK in a new federal-state programme. After a successful period of probation, such a tenure track professorship provides for a direct transition to a permanent professorship.

The professorship is located in the Algebra, Geometry and Computer Algebra group of the department. "We are very pleased to have won Dr. Thiel for TU Kaiserslautern. He perfectly fits with our teaching and research programmes. In addition, we expect him to strengthen our Collaborative Research Center SFB/TRR 195, whose expertise he excellently complements" commented Prof. Wolfram Decker, Dean of the Department of Mathematics.

The Federal Ministry of Education and Research is funding the new professorship for the first eight years. The federal-state programme aims to reform staff structures at universities broadly and sustainably in order to increase the competitiveness of the German science system. With a total of 1,000 new tenure-track professorships throughout Germany, career perspectives leading to a professorship for young researchers are to become more plannable and transparent. The special feature that it provides for is the immediate transition to a lifetime professorship after successful probation. In addition, the programme enables young scientists to decide sooner than before to stay in the science system.

Similar to the introduction of the concepts of junior professorships (or junior professorships with a tenure track option) or Heisenberg professorships of the German Research Foundation (DFG), the Department of Mathematics once again belongs to the "pioneers" who are the first to implement the new career paths.