Former Vice President dies at the age of 54 / Stepped down from the governing body only at the end of December / “A wise and gentle person who will be greatly missed” 

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The Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) mourns the death of Professor Dr. Matthias Koenig. The Heidelberg-based macro-sociologist served as a Vice President of the DFG until the end of December 2025; he died on 12 January at the age of 54.

“It was just a few days ago that we bid farewell to Matthias Koenig as a member of our Executive Committee, which he left at his own request after a first term that was as fulfilling as it was successful. Although we were aware of his serious illness, the news of his untimely death now fills us with even greater sorrow and pain,” said DFG President Professor Dr. Katja Becker in Bonn.

Chair of Empirical Macro-Sociology at the Max Weber Institute, University of Heidelberg, Matthias Koenig was elected to the DFG Executive Committee by the General Assembly in July 2021. Prior to this, he had received a number of DFG grants for his research projects addressing issues of migration, integration and interreligious relations. From 2017 onwards he was also involved in academic self-governance as a member of the Selection Committee for the Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Prize.

As a DFG Vice President, Koenig was particularly active in the field of European research policy, which he helped shape in the interests of free and knowledge-driven research, primarily through his role as a member of the Governing Board of Science Europe. Among other things, he advocated improvements in research assessment at the European level, in particular within the Coalition for Advancing Research Assessment (CoARA), on whose Steering Board he also served. In addition, Koenig established close ties on behalf of the DFG with countries in sub-Saharan Africa and held numerous discussions with representatives of partner organisations, also in the countries concerned, especially in francophone Africa.

“An exceptionally wise and gentle person with a quietly persuasive manner, Matthias Koenig was an outstanding scholar and academic mentor with an impressive ability to listen,” said DFG President Becker. “In just a short space of time, he rendered outstanding service to the DFG, to research in Germany, and to cooperation with our partners in Europe and Africa. He will be greatly missed by all those who had the opportunity to get to know him and work with him. We extend our deepest sympathy to his family. We will honour his memory.”