34 Notable alumni of University of Bielefeld

Joachim Cuntz is a German mathematician, currently a professor at the University of Münster.

Vajja Sambasiva Rao, also known as V. S. Rao is an Indian academic and the former President of NIIT University. Relinquishing his position at NIIT University on 30 June 2020, he embraced the role of Vice-Chancellor at SRM University-AP, Andhra Pradesh from 1 July 2020. He was previously the Acting Vice-Chancellor of BITS Pilani, and the Director of the Hyderabad...

Tim Ostermann is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who has served as a member of the Bundestag from the state of North Rhine-Westphalia from 2013 till 2017 and again since 2021.

Michael Röckner is a mathematician working in the fields of Stochastic analysis and Mathematical Physics.

Volkmar Gessner was a German university professor and a socio-legal scholar.

Detlef Horst Müller is a German mathematician, specializing in analysis.

Ulrich Mescheder is a German professor and university administrator. He heads the Central Research Institute and the Technology Laboratory for Micro- and Nanosystems and is Vice President for Research at Furtwangen University of Applied Sciences. His research specializations are microsystems technology and nanotechnology.

Bernhard Wilhelm Roth is a German experimental physicist.

Ingo Althöfer is a German mathematician and former professor of operations research at the University of Jena.

Rainer Wend is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and currently lobbyist for Deutsche Post DHL. From 2002 to 2005, he was chairman of the Bundestag-Committee Economics and Labour as well as spokesman of the SPD parliamentary party on Economic Affairs from 2005 till 2009. In July 2012, he was elected President of European Movement Germany.

Volker Ludwig Mehrmann is a German mathematician known for research in numerical linear algebra, differential-algebraic equations, and control theory. He is on the editorial staffs of several journals, including Linear Algebra and Its Applications and Numerische Mathematik. From 2019 to 2022 he was president of the European Mathematical Society (EMS).

Jochen Liedtke was a German computer scientist, noted for his work on microkernel operating systems, especially in creating the L4 microkernel family.

Elena Esposito is an Italian sociologist who works in the field of social systems theory. She teaches subjects such as general sociology, foresight, and the futures of public policy at Bielefeld University (Germany) and the University of Bologna (Italy). Her research is inspired by Luhmannian social systems theory.

Burkhard Schwenker is a German business consultant. He was CEO of Roland Berger (then called Roland Berger Strategy Consultants) from 2003 until July 2010, when he was appointed head of the supervisory board of the firm. He was CEO again from May 2013 to July 2014, after his successor/antecessor Martin C. Wittig stepped back for health reasons. He again was...

Detlef Weigel is a German American scientist working at the interface of developmental and evolutionary biology.

Robin Till Nils Johannes Wagener is a German judge and politician of the Alliance 90/The Greens who has been a member of the Bundestag in the 2021 German federal election, representing the Lippe I district.

Torsten Albig is a German politician from the Social Democratic Party of Germany. From 2012 until 2017 he served as the 13th Minister President of Schleswig-Holstein. Since 2023, he has been the head of external affairs at Philip Morris International's German subsidiary.

Matthias Blübaum is a German chess grandmaster. He won the European Individual Chess Championship in 2022 and in 2025.

Andrew Maitland Moravcsik is professor of politics and international affairs, director of the Liechtenstein Institute on Self-Determination, and founding director of the European Union Program and the International Relations Faculty Colloquium at Princeton University. Moravcsik is known for his academic research and policy writing on European integration, international organizations and for developing the theory of liberal intergovernmentalism.

Frank Schäffler is a German politician of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) who has served as a member of the Bundestag from 2005 to 2013 and again from 2017 to 2025.

Jens Teutrine is a German politician of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) who served as a member of the Bundestag from 2021 to 2025, representing the Herford – Minden-Lübbecke II district. From 2020 until 2021 he served as the chairman of the party’s youth organisation, the Young Liberals (Julis).

Ute Frevert is a German historian. She is a specialist in modern and contemporary German history, as well as social and gender history. In January 2008, she was appointed managing director of the Max Planck Institute for Human Development and director of the Institute's Center for History of Emotions in Berlin.

Wiebke Esdar is a German psychologist and politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD). She has been a member of the Bundestag since the 2017 election, when she won the constituency of Bielefeld – Gütersloh II with 33.2% of the votes.

Johannes Christian Vogel FLS FAAAS is a German botanist, who since 1 February 2012 has been Director General of the Museum für Naturkunde and Professor of Biodiversity and Public Science at Humboldt University, both in Berlin. He previously held the post of Keeper of Botany at the Natural History Museum in the United Kingdom from 2004 to 2012.

Yao Li-ming is a Taiwanese political scientist, politician, and political commentator. He was elected to the Legislative Yuan in 1995 as a member of the New Party, then withdrew from the party before concluding his term in 1999. Yao ran for reelection in 2008, while affiliated with the Home Party and was not elected. He later worked for Ko Wen-je's...

Britta Maria Haßelmann is a German politician of Alliance 90/The Greens who has been serving as co-chair of the Green Party’s parliamentary group in the Bundestag since 2021, alongside Katharina Dröge. From 2013 until 2021, she was the group’s first manager (Erste Parlamentarische Geschäftsführerin). She has been a member of the Bundestag since 2005.

Marieluise Beck is a German politician who served as member of the Alliance '90/The Greens group in the Bundestag until 2017. She was also a member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.

Stefan Konrad Raab is a German entertainer, television host, producer, and businessman. From 1999 to 2015, he hosted the late-night comedy talk show TV total on ProSieben and also created a number of other television shows on the channel, most notably Schlag den Raab and Bundesvision Song Contest.

Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger [zaˈbiːnə ˈlɔʏthɔʏsɐ ˈʃnaʀənˌbɛɐ̯ɡɐ] is a German politician of the liberal Free Democratic Party and a prominent advocate of human rights in Germany and Europe. Within the FDP, she is a leading figure of the social-liberal wing. She served as Federal Minister of Justice of Germany from 1992 to 1996 in the cabinet of Helmut Kohl and again in...

Claudia Kemfert is a German economist focussing on energy research and environmental protection. She was a Professor of Energy Economics and Sustainability at the Hertie School of Governance in Berlin until 2019. She heads the Energy, Transportation, and Environment department at the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin).

Karoline Linnert is a German politician of the Alliance '90/The Greens. From 2007 until 2019, she served as Senator of Finance and Mayor of the city-state of Bremen. During her time in office, she was one of two people holding the title Mayor, the other being Carsten Sieling, the President of the Senate of Bremen.

Christoph Thiele is a German mathematician working in the field of harmonic analysis. After completing his undergraduate studies at TU Darmstadt and Bielefeld University, he obtained his Ph.D. in 1995 at Yale under the supervision of Ronald Coifman. After spending time at UCLA, where he was promoted to full professor, he occupied the Hausdorff Chair at the University of Bonn.

Niklas Luhmann was a German sociologist, philosopher of social science, and systems theorist.