Dr. Colin Schulz widmet sich am Institut für Entrepreneurship dem digitalen und ökologischen Wandel aus betriebswirtschaftlicher Perspektive. Gleichzeitig beweist er, dass er selbst ein spannendes Gleichgewicht aus Beständigkeit und Veränderung gefunden hat. Für seine wissenschaftlichen Leistungen erhält Colin Schulz am 9. Juli den Förderpreis der Universitätsgesellschaft – ein Porträt.

Vor gut einem Jahr begann Donald Trump als Präsident der Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika, hohe Zölle für Handelspartner anderer Länder zu erheben. Welche Auswirkungen solche Alleingänge auf den globalen Handel haben und welche effektiveren Mittel es gibt, um das Wachstum zu erhöhen, erläutert der Wirtschaftswissenschaftler Prof. Dr. Bernd Kempa im Interview mit Brigitte Heeke für die Unizeitung wissen|leben.

On Wednesday, June 11, 2026, twelve students from the School of Business & Economics were honored with the BMS CS-AlumniUM Junior Award in recognition of their outstanding academic achievements during their first year of study. The award ceremony took place in the distinguished setting of the renowned Schloss Wilkinghege.

Am Mittwoch, den 11. Juni 2026, wurden zwölf Studierende der Wirtschaftswissenschaftlichen Fakultät für ihre herausragenden Leistungen im ersten Studienjahr mit dem "BMS CS-AlumniUM-Junior-Award" ausgezeichnet. Die Verleihung fand im feierlichen Rahmen im renommierten Schloss Wilkinghege statt.

Prof. Dr. Sebastian Hohenberg, holder of the Chair of Digital Transformation and Co-Director of the Centre for Business Transformation (ChanCe), has been awarded as “Outstanding Reviewer” by the prestigious Journal of Marketing (JM). This leading international journal honours reviewers who make an outstanding contribution to quality assurance in marketing research.

Prof. Dr. Sebastian Hohenberg, Inhaber des Lehrstuhls für Digitale Transformation und Co-Direktor des Centers for Business Transformation (ChanCe),  wurde vom renommierten Journal of Marketing (JM) als „Outstanding Reviewer“ ausgezeichnet. Die international führende Fachzeitschrift würdigt damit Gutachter:innen, die einen herausragenden Beitrag zur Qualitätssicherung in der Marketingforschung leisten.

From May 18 to May 20, 2026, Lennart Schäpermeier and Leonard Papenmeier from the Department of Information Systems participated in the COSEAL (Configuration and Selection of Algorithms) workshop at RWTH Aachen University. 

The workshop is a premier international event bringing together researchers from academia and industry across all areas of automated artificial intelligence (AutoAI). Participants discussed current advances and trends in the automated configuration and selection of algorithms, including automated machine learning (AutoML), Bayesian optimization, neural architecture search and automated algorithm selection. The latter was celebrated with a special session highlighting 50 years of algorithm selection research.

At this edition, Lennart Schäpermeier presented BONO-Bench, based on joint work with ERCIS member Pascal Kerschke, which was recently accepted at the ACM TELO journal (SJR Q1). BONO-Bench advances the state of the art in evaluating bi-objective optimization heuristics by providing a test suite with controllable challenges and reference solutions, enabling researchers to better understand and configure their optimization heuristics.

The COSEAL workshop series originally started in 2013 at the Department of Information Systems with a workshop organized by Prof. Dr. Heike Trautmann (ERCIS member, now University of Paderborn). It is held anually in locations across Europe and attracts approximately 100 participants from dozens of research institutes. Additionally, Lennart Schäpermeier (together with André Biedenkapp, University of Freiburg, and Theresa Eimer, University of Hannover), serves as a general chair of the COSEAL network.

The next COSEAL workshop is held from May 10-12, 2027 at TU Dortmund.

On 13 May 2026, the School of Business & Economics awarded the Dr. Andreas Dombret Doctoral Prize for the year 2026. This year’s recipient is Dr. Janina Wiebringhaus from the Chair of Marketing Management, headed by Prof. Dr. Manfred Krafft. In her dissertation “Essays on Transformative Value Creation in Mental Healthcare Services”, she examines how transformative value can be created in mental healthcare through interactions between employees, patients, and digital technologies. The focus is particularly on treatment and care contexts in depression therapy and long-term mental health care.

Am 13.05.2026 wurde an der Wirtschaftswissenschaftlichen Fakultät der Dr. Andreas Dombret-Promotionspreis für das Jahr 2026 vergeben. Preisträgerin ist Dr. Janina Wiebringhaus vom Institut für Marketing unter der Leitung von Prof. Dr. Manfred Krafft. In ihrer Dissertation „Essays on Transformative Value Creation in Mental Healthcare Services“ untersucht sie, wie in der psychischen Gesundheitsversorgung durch Interaktionen zwischen Mitarbeitenden, Patient:innen und digitalen Technologien sogenannte transformative Wertschöpfung entstehen kann. Im Mittelpunkt stehen dabei insbesondere Therapie- und Versorgungskontexte bei Depressionen und in der stationären Langzeitversorgung.

Can Germany still have a future? This question was at the centre of the lecture by Prof. Dr. Nils Foege, Head of the Institute for Innovation, Strategy and Organization, at the 2nd Update Economics event. In short, his answer is: yes – if we want it to be, and if we shape digitalisation and sustainability together. How this can be achieved was also a key focus of the subsequent discussion with the audience and moderator Prof. Dr. Johannes Becker. The event concluded with the statement: “The future is not a state – it is a decision,” marking another successful edition of the “Update Economics” series.

For many years, Dr. Adam Widera has shaped the Department of Information Systems at the University of Münster with his dedication and expertise. His academic journey at the university began early: while studying political science, philosophy, and political economy, he worked as a student assistant at the Institute for Political Science from 2002 to 2005.

Afterwards, he worked initially as a research associate at the Chair of Political Science and International/Comparative Political Economy before joining the Department of Information Systems in 2006. There, he first served as a project coordinator in the BMBF-funded project “Computer-Assisted Higher Education”, at the Chair of Information Systems and Controlling. He later supported the Chair of Information Systems and Logistics as managing director and lecturer, where he discovered his passion for humanitarian logistics and crisis management and completed his doctorate in this field.

In December 2013, Adam Widera and Prof. Dr.-Ing. Bernd Hellingrath founded the ERCIS Competence Center Crisis Management (C³M). As Managing Director, he plays a key role in shaping the center’s work and future development. Over the past years, he has successfully acquired several national and international research projects, helping C³M become an important actor within various research and practice networks. In 2020, Adam Widera additionally took on the role of Deputy Managing Director of the department and, since this year, has joined the executive board of the ERCIS Flow Factory as managing director.

On the occasion of his 25th anniversary, we asked him a few questions:

You originally studied political science, philosophy, and economic policy – how did you end up at the Department of Information Systems?

After completing my magister degree, I contributed to a study and quickly realized that I was missing a stronger practical orientation and greater research impact. At the same time, I was involved in an EU project in which the Department of Information Systems was also participating through our current director, Prof. Dr. Jan vom Brocke. Through this, I came across the exciting project “Computer-Assisted Higher Education,” where a position as project coordinator had become available. I did not hesitate for long and applied immediately. Information Systems quickly became my new academic home.

You have been working at the department for many years – first as a project coordinator and later as a research associate at the Chair of Information Systems and Logistics, where you also completed your doctorate. Which projects or experiences were particularly formative for you during this time?

I could name many highlights here. However, if I had to emphasize one project, it would be DRIVER+, the largest EU-funded crisis management project to date, involving more than forty partners from across Europe. The project was not only interesting because, as the competence center, we were able to test and evaluate various research results together with crisis management practitioners under realistic conditions, but also because, as the only university institution in the consortium, we were able to develop and test a novel, practice-driven evaluation approach – the Trial Guidance Methodology (TGM) – in collaboration with the European Commission’s Joint Research Center. Unfortunately, the reality of research funding is often that project results are forgotten once a project ends. With TGM, however, things were very different. The methodology was adopted by many stakeholders in security research and applied in numerous initiatives and research projects. A particular highlight last year was certainly receiving the Security Innovation Award from the European Commission and DG HOME in the category “Best Open Source Innovation 2025.”

You have been Managing Director of the ERCIS Competence Center Crisis Management (C³M) since 2013. How have the center and your work there evolved over the past few years?

After initially focusing on logistical processes and information systems in international disaster management, we increasingly expanded our perspective toward European and regional challenges through successfully acquired research projects. Especially since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, our research has focused more strongly on national and municipal civil protection. Alongside this development, our stakeholder landscape has broadened significantly, so that in addition to international non-governmental organizations, various emergency response organizations and public authorities have become long-standing practice partners.

The entire department thanks Adam Widera for his excellent work, loyalty, and continued commitment. We look forward to many more years of successful collaboration.

Am 11.06.2026 haben Studieninteressierte die Möglichkeit, via Zoom mehr über die Studiengänge der Wirtschaftswisenschaftlichen Fakultät zu erfahren. Im Rahmen der ZSB-Reihe "Uni kennenlernen - Studieren an der Universität Münster" stellt Programmmanager Dr. Jan Niklas Dörseln die Bachelor in Betriebswirtschaftslehre (BWL), Volkswirtschaftslehre (VWL), Wirtschaftsinformatik und die interdisziplinären Studiengänge vor, gibt Einblicke in den Studienalltag und beantwortet Fragen rund ums Studium.

In May, 38 participants took part in the windsurfing seminar in Hvide Sande, Denmark, in cooperation with the HSP Windsurf School (windsurf instructors: Jenny Weiß and Rolf Lexen). The seminar was organized by Janis Elmer and Tobias Zimmermann from the Institute for Information Systems.

Four courses participated in the seminar: the Bachelor’s course Urban Analytics and the Master’s courses Efficient Machine Learning, Flow Factory: TideStats, and Flow Factory: TideTalks.

As part of the bachelor’s seminar “Urban Analytics”, led by Ann-Kathrin Meyer and Johannes von Ivernois, students explored the fundamentals of location-based services and examined the intersection between spatial and content analysis. They worked with a large-scale dataset of georeferenced Twitter messages or with self-selected georeferenced datasets.

The master’s seminar “Efficient Machine Learning”, led by Nina Herrmann, Jorunn Mense, and Jan Pauls, provided students with an interest in machine learning with in-depth knowledge of advanced topics, particularly through the reproduction and summary of current scientific papers on topics such as efficient vision transformers, self-supervised learning, and related approaches.

The seminar “Flow Factory: TideStats”, led by Josephine Moritz, Phlipp Michels, and Tobias Zimmermann, focused on practically relevant research questions, in particular the investigation of the impact of artificial intelligence on employees. Master’s students learned and applied scientific methods, with a special focus on quantitative data analysis using R, and conducted their own research project on “AI & People”.

The master’s course “Flow Factory: TideTalks”, led by Fumi Kurihara, Paul Brützke, and Janis Elmer, addressed practically relevant research questions from the Flow Factory, in particular the investigation of the impact of artificial intelligence on users. Students learned and applied qualitative methods, with a special focus on conducting interviews, and carried out their own research project on human–AI interaction.

In addition to the final presentations, there was also time for a sports: with perfect weather, participants enjoyed windsurfing together and exchanging ideas along the Danish North Sea coast.

Weibliche Talente im Finanzbereich zu vernetzen und zu stärken – das ist das Ziel des Women-in-Finance Events, das am 22. Juni 2026 in Kooperation mit dem „Finest in Finance“-Programm stattfindet.

Die Veranstaltung steht nicht nur Mitgliedern des Programms offen, sondern richtet sich ausdrücklich auch an externe Interessentinnen. Eingeladen sind insbesondere Studentinnen aus Bachelor und Master, die sich vertieft für Themen rund um Finance interessieren.

At the doctoral graduation ceremony on 13 May 2026, nine early-career researchers from the School of Business & Economics celebrated the successful completion of their doctorates. The formal presentation of the doctoral certificates by the Dean of the Faculty, Prof. Dr. Thomas Langer, took place in the Aula of the Schloss.

As part of the ceremony, Charlotte Czernietzki, Christina Englisch, Fiona Höllmann, Alina Herting, Julian Lanfer, Matthias Neugebauer, Marika Platz, Shariga Sivanathan and Lena Stein-Warburg were awarded their doctorates.

Im Rahmen der Promotionsfeier der Wirtschaftswissenschaftlichen Fakultät am 13. Mai 2026 konnten 9 Nachwuchswissenschaftler erfolgreich ihre Promotion abschließen. Die feierliche Übergabe der Doktorurkunden durch den Dekan der Fakultät, Prof. Dr. Thomas Langer, fand in der Aula des Schlosses statt.

Geehrt wurden Charlotte Czernietzki, Christina Englisch, Fiona Höllmann, Alina Herting, Julian Lanfer, Matthias Neugebauer, Marika Platz, Shariga Sivanathan und Lena Stein-Warburg.

Jonathan Grundmann’s master’s thesis, titled “Decoding Bureaucracy: Towards a Process Mining Method for Public Administration,” has been awarded first place in the Materna Graduate Award. The Materna Graduate Award recognizes outstanding theses in the field of digitalization and supports young talents as well as innovative solutions for the digital transformation of public administration.

In his thesis, Jonathan Grundmann examines why process mining holds great potential for public administration but has rarely been used in a systematic way. The focus is organizational, technical, and structural challenges that hinder broader adoption. His analysis shows how data-driven process analysis can make administrative workflows more transparent, uncover optimization potentials, and thereby contribute to more efficient and modern administrative structures.

The thesis was supervised by Michael Räckers and Sandro Franzoi from the Department of Information Systems at the University of Münster.

Jonathan Grundmann is a graduate of the Erasmus Mundus Master of Science in Public Sector Innovation and eGovernance (PIONEER). This interdisciplinary program is a joint degree offered by KU Leuven (Belgium), Tallinn University of Technology (Estonia), and the University of Münster (Germany), and combines expertise in public administration, public management, information systems, and eGovernance.

Links related to this news

Materna Graduate Award

Master of Science PIONEER

Kann Deutschland noch Zukunft? Diese Frage stand im Mittelpunkt des Vortrags von Prof. Dr. Nils Foege, Leiter des Instituts für Innovation, Strategie und Organisation, beim 2. Update Wirtschaft. Kurz zusammengefasst lautet seine Antwort: Ja – wenn wir wollen und wenn wir Digitalisierung und Nachhaltigkeit gemeinsam gestalten. Wie das gelingen kann, war auch ein Schwerpunkt in der anschließenden Diskussion mit dem Publikum und Moderator Prof. Dr. Johannes Becker. Mit dem Fazit „Zukunft ist kein Zustand – sie ist eine Entscheidung“ endete eine weitere gelungene Ausgabe der Veranstaltungsreihe Update Wirtschaft.

In the Bachelor-level course “Game Theory”, Max Linden, founder of lemon.markets, and Florian Dostert, co-founder of Syntinels, discussed the practical relevance of economic and, in particular, game-theoretic concepts. During their visit, both speakers shared insights into their entrepreneurial journey. They described concrete challenges in market entry, strategic negotiation situations, and the dynamics of competitive environments. A central theme of the session was the discussion on the actual usefulness of formal economic models for entrepreneurial decision-making.

In der Bachelor-Vorlesung „Spieltheorie“ diskutierten Max Linden, Gründer von lemon.markets, und Florian Dostert, Mitgründer von Syntinels, die praktische Relevanz ökonomischer und insbesondere spieltheoretischer Konzepte. Im Rahmen ihres Besuchs gaben die beiden Einblicke in ihre Gründerreise. Sie schilderten konkrete Herausforderungen bei der Markteinführung, strategische Verhandlungssituationen sowie die Dynamik im Wettbewerbsumfeld. Zentrales Thema der Veranstaltung war die Diskussion über den tatsächlichen Nutzen formal-ökonomischer Modelle für unternehmerische Entscheidungen.