Thank you so much, dear Sigrid, for your warm words! Who would have thought, when we met as students at the Berlin Social
Science Center in the early 1980s, that we would now be standing here together, just a mere 40 years later!
I am immensely pleased to be honoured by EGOS, especially because I am not a scientific scholar and have been serving in an
administrative capacity for almost 20 years. I would like to give a warm and very heartfelt thank-you to the current EGOS
Board – and to all previous EGOS Board members, Chairs, Vice-Chairs and Treasurers during my time of office.
When I took over the job (role) of EGOS Executive Secretary at the end of 2005, I was trained by my predecessor Marianne Risberg
from CBS: She invited me to her home several times, and we worked there together intensively and with much laughter. I owe
her a lot. Unfortunately, she passed away in September 2010 after a long, serious illness. I often think about her and still
miss her.
My successor as EGOS Executive Secretary is Florian Kauffmann from Vienna. Most of you already know him, because he has been
working for EGOS since January 2024. He has taken to it like a duck to water, is doing an excellent job, and I know for sure
that he will give important inputs, thoughtful insights and new ideas to EGOS as an association.
It has been a great honour for me to work for this fantastic organization for so many years – not least because EGOS stands
for academic freedom, independence, and impartiality; for diversity and anti-racism; for peace and anti-nationalism. This,
unfortunately, is no longer the case everywhere these days.
Thank-you once again for this honour. I wish EGOS today and in the future all the best. Good luck and good bye!