Ceremony in BerlinHumboldt Professorship for Prof. Dr. Ingrid Piller

6 May 2025, by Newsroom editorial office

Photo: Humboldt Foundation / David Ausserhofer

Prof. Ingrid Piller at Humboldt Professorship awards ceremony

Six Alexander von Humboldt professorships were awarded at a ceremony on 5 May 2025. One of the recipients is Prof. Dr. Ingrid Piller, who had a professorship at the Australian Macquarie University before joining the University of Hamburg.

The 6 awards, which are among the most important academic distinctions in Germany, are each worth €3.5 million. They were ceremoniously handed over by Germany’s research minister Cem Özdemir and the president of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Robert Schlögl. Against the backdrop of current developments in the United States, both underscored in their speeches the significance of academic freedom and international cooperation.

These are the values promoted by the Alexander von Humboldt Professorships awarded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research. The professorships bring top international researchers in all fields to German universities. In addition to outstanding academic qualifications on the part of candidates, the concepts that universities have for long-term prospects in Germany for their researchers and their teams are also important.

Establishing the profile initiative Linguistic Diversity

Prof. Dr. Ingrid Piller focuses on the way linguistic practices can contribute to integration and identity formation in multicultural communities. At Universität Hamburg—University of Excellence, she heads the Literacy in Diversity Settings research center in the Faculty of Education. The center is conceived to become an interdisciplinary and cross-faculty research center with the Linguistic Diversity profile initiative forming its core. "In her research, Prof. Ingrid Piller has continuously developed new methodological approaches and contributed to paradigm shifts in the field of multilingualism. Along with her team, she will bring an international dimension to our Linguistic Diversity profile initiative,” said Prof. Dr. Hauke Heekeren, president of the University of Hamburg.

Following the awarding of the professorship, there will be a welcome symposium on 16 May 2025, Piller’s first University-wide event. All University members are invited to the conference, which will focus on linguistic diversity and participation.