Just in time for the Christmas holidays and the turn of the year, our review of 2025 has been published. The year was dominated by the strategic development of the School. Among other things, we adopted a new mission statement, the key points of which can be found in the individual chapters of the annual review.
Success at the prestigious WFI Consulting Cup 2025 in Ingolstadt: An independent team of business and economics students from the University of Münster won first place in the 24-hour case competition. The topic of the case study was ‘Strategic realignment and turnaround management in the defence sector: Developing a sustainable business model through technological innovation and operational efficiency improvements in a dynamic market environment’.
Prof. Dr. Julia Backmann, Head of the Chair for Transformation of the Work at the University of Münster, explains in an interview with SPIEGEL current developments in the world of work and challenges common misconceptions: The often-cited accusation that Germans work too little cannot be substantiated with data. Many employees, particularly women, face heavy workloads due to long working hours, unpaid overtime, and additional care work. Efficiency, fair distribution of work, and structural frameworks are more decisive than the sheer number of hours worked.
The Rectorate of the University of Münster honored 13 early-career researchers with the 2025 Dissertation Award at a ceremonial event in the Festive Hall of the Schloss. The awards were presented by Rector Prof. Dr. Johannes Wessels and Prof. Dr. Maike Tietjens, Vice-Rector for Academic Career Development and Diversity. The award for the School of Business & Economics was given to Dr. Christina Okoutsidou for her dissertation “Decoding AI Influencer’s Effectiveness: Multimodal Insights for Social Media Marketing”, supervised by Prof. Dr. Manfred Krafft. In addition, the Rectorate recognized the best doctoral theses of 2025.
How can processes in large-scale kitchens be made more precise, sustainable, and efficient? This was the question tackled by Nico Nonnen and Mattis Sippel, two Information Systems graduates from the University of Münster, laying the foundation for their start-up, better bites. Their AI-driven software solution helps kitchen managers plan ingredient usage more accurately, reduce food waste, and optimize processes.
The Economics Student Council has presented awards for outstanding teaching on behalf of the students. In the three subjects of business administration, economics and business informatics, three courses each were nominated in the bachelor's and master's programmes, from which the teaching award committee selected the winners. The teaching award has been presented by the Economics Student Council since 2010. It rewards lecturers in the department for outstanding achievements in teaching.
Around 250 Bachelor's and Master's students received their degree certificates at the end of November. The graduation ceremony organised by the WiWi student council provided a fitting festive setting for the occasion. After a welcome address by Prof. Dr. Thomas Langer, Dean of the School of Business and Economics, the certificates were presented and numerous photos were taken. At a champagne reception, the graduates had the opportunity to toast with family and friends.
This year marked the 20th presentation of the Dr. Andreas Dombret Doctoral Prize, which has honoured outstanding work at the interface between academia and practice since 2007. To celebrate the anniversary, the donor, Hon. Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Andreas Raymond Dombret, current and former award recipients, and their doctoral supervisors gathered at the A2 by Lake Aasee, where they exchanged views in a festive atmosphere on their career paths in companies, ministries, and universities.
The Joint Science Conference of the German federal government and the German states has announced that the University of Münster will be involved in two research projects within the new Academies Programme. One of them is the project “The Vatican and the Persecution of Jews in Europe”, led by church historian Prof. Dr. Hubert Wolf, theologian Prof. Dr. Michael Seewald, and information systems scholar Prof. Dr. Jan vom Brocke.
