Prof. Dr Barbara Sturm, Scientific Director of the Leibniz Institute for Agricultural Engineering and Bioeconomy (ATB), was re-elected for a third term as Vice-President by the General Assembly at the Leibniz Association's annual conference in Berlin on 5 December 2025. She will thus continue in her role on the Leibniz Association's Executive Board for another two years.

Prof. Dr Barbara Sturm has been Scientific Director of the Leibniz Institute for Agricultural Engineering and Bioeconomy in Potsdam since October 2020. She also holds a joint appointment as Professor of Agricultural Engineering in Bioeconomic Systems at Humboldt University in Berlin. She has been Vice-President of the Leibniz Association since the end of 2021.
Born in 1978, the agricultural engineer received her doctorate from the University of Kassel in 2010 and initially conducted research at the Newcastle Institute for Research on Sustainability, Newcastle University (UK). In 2018, she was awarded the prestigious Anton Schlüter Medal by the KTBL for her habilitation. Before moving to Potsdam, she headed the research group ‘Process and Systems Engineering in Agriculture’ at the University of Kassel.

‘Over the past four years, we have achieved a great deal as the Executive Board of the Leibniz Association – for which I am grateful. Looking to the future, I am eager to contribute the experience I gained during my previous terms of office to support our newly elected President Christoph M. Schmidt and his new Executive Board team,’ says Prof. Sturm. She shares the vision of the new Leibniz President Christoph M. Schmidt, who will succeed Martina Brockmeier on 1 July 2026. The new Executive Board team wants to work together to set new impulses for the future. The Leibniz Association should continue to act as a reliable partner for innovation and provide the scientific orientation necessary to shape a better future for all.

‘I would like to express my special thanks to our outgoing President Martina Brockmeier for her many years of intensive and always trusting cooperation. It has been a pleasure to work under her leadership to promote German science. During this term of office, I will continue to represent the issue of sustainability both internally and externally as a member of the Presidium,’ adds Prof. Sturm. ‘As Chair of the Standing Committee on Research Infrastructure, Facilities and Museums (KIM), I see it as my core task to leverage the enormous potential of our globally unique research infrastructure. Networked infrastructures are key to pooling resources, boosting innovation, and enabling cutting-edge joint research at a national and international level.’

In future, the Executive Board of the Leibniz Association will comprise five vice-presidents, three of whom were elected on 5 December 2025. Together with the president, they manage the affairs of the Leibniz Association and are responsible for implementing the decisions of the governing bodies. The Executive Board is responsible for enacting generally binding regulations of the committees, such as rules of procedure, principles of procedure and election regulations.

The Leibniz Association connects 96 independent research institutions that range in focus from natural, engineering and environmental sciences to economics, spatial and social sciences and the humanities. Leibniz Institutes address issues of social, economic and ecological relevance. They conduct knowledge-driven and applied basic research, maintain scientific infrastructure and provide research-based services. The Leibniz Association focuses on knowledge transfer, especially with the Leibniz research museums. It advises and informs politics, science, business, and the public. Leibniz institutions maintain close cooperation with universities, for example in the form of Leibniz Science Campi, with industry and other partners in Germany and abroad. They are subject to a transparent and independent review process. Due to their national importance, the federal and state governments jointly fund the institutes of the Leibniz Association. The Leibniz Institutes employ almost 21,000 people, including nearly 12,000 scientists. The total budget of the institutes is two billion euros. www.leibniz-gemeinschaft.de/en/ 

The Leibniz Institute for Agricultural Engineering and Bioeconomy (ATB) is a pioneer and driver of systemic-technical bioeconomy research. Its research creates the scientific foundation for the transformation of agricultural, food, other industrial and energy systems into a sustainable bio-based circular economy. The focus is on the development, deployment and integration of technologies, techniques, processes and management strategies, strategical integration of a variety of bioeconomic production systems within a comprehensive system approach and management of those in a knowledge-driven, adaptive and extensively automated way using converging technologies. ATB conducts research in dialogue with society, policymakers, industry and other stakeholders - knowledge-driven and application-inspired.
The institute employs around 290 people. The basic funding for the institute from the federal government, the state of Brandenburg and the state community amounts to 14.8 million euros this year. In addition, there is third-party funding amounting to around 40% of the total budget.

Contact:

Ulrike Glaubitz
Public Relations
el.: +49 331 5699-820
E-mail: presse@atb-potsdam.de