Christine Burtscheidt elected Secretary General of Germany's Joint Science Conference (GWK)

Germany's Joint Science Conference (GWK) has elected Christine Burtscheidt as Secretary General, it announced on 19/02/2026.

Burtscheidt previously held various management positions in the administrations of the Max Planck Society, the Leibniz Association and Goethe University Frankfurt. She has been head of the Research and Digitisation Department at the Ministry of Science and Research, Art and Culture in the state of Hessen since 2020 and has many years of experience in various key positions in the German science system.

A philologist who studied German language and literature, history, and philosophy in Munich, she worked for several years at Süddeutsche Zeitung, one of Germany's major newspapers, before moving into science management.

She succeeds Inga Schäfer, who has retired.

The GWK (Gemeinsame Wissenschaftskonferenz) began its work in 2008. It coordinates joint research funding by the federal and state governments. The members of GWK are the federal and state ministers responsible for science and research and for finance.