Science and society in transition

1/10/2020
Reading time 2 min.

What is the appropriate role for science and engineering in a world where political certainties are dissolving while global problems such as climate change need solutions? How do research and education need to adapt? Prof. Thomas F. Hofmann, the President of the Technical University of Munich (TUM), will address these issues on January 20 in the "Munich Talks" series at the Bavarian School of Public Policy / TUM School of Governance.

The "Munich Talks" will host Prof. Thomas F. Hofmann.

The TUM School of Governance, established in 2017, is dedicated to research and education on the interactions of politics and technology, which play a decisive role in almost all political spheres today. With this special focus of its research and teaching activities, the school makes a vital contribution to the ability to understand and shape societal change resulting from rapid technological developments. The school works in conjunction with the Bavarian School of Public Policy, which is hosted by TUM.

In the “Munich Talks” events, speakers from the worlds of science and politics offer stimulating input for the public discourse on these issues. On January 20 the series will host Prof. Thomas F. Hofmann. Before taking office as President of TUM in October 2019, Prof. Hofmann spent ten years in the role of Senior Vice President in charge of research and innovation. During that time, TUM began to establish chairs in the social sciences with ties to engineering and the natural sciences. TUM appointed Hofmann to head its Chair of Food Chemistry and Molecular Sensory Science in 2007. Before that he worked as professor at the University of Münster. From 2017 until 2019 he also served as the director of the TUM-affiliated Leibniz-Institute for Food Systems Biology.