We warmly congratulate Prof. Dr. Gwendolyn Sasse, Principal Investigator at SCRIPTS and Director of the Centre for East European and International Studies (ZOiS), on her election as a member of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities.

Gwendolyn Sasse is one of Europe’s leading social scientists and an internationally recognized expert on Eastern Europe. Her research focuses on political and social transformations, democracy and authoritarianism, migration, political protest, and the causes, dynamics, and consequences of war. Working at the intersection of political science and sociology, she combines innovative methodological approaches with extensive field research, including surveys, focus groups, and interviews conducted in complex contexts shaped by conflict, displacement, and social change.

Over the course of her career, Professor Sasse has made major contributions to the understanding of post-socialist transformation processes, EU enlargement, political mobilization, and the societal effects of war. Her research on Russia’s war against Ukraine and its consequences has established her as a prominent voice in both academic and public discussions. Since 2016, she has served as the founding Scientific Director of ZOiS, where she has played a key role in building the institute into a leading center for research on Eastern Europe and international affairs. In 2021, she was appointed Einstein Professor of Comparative Democracy and Authoritarianism Research at Humboldt University of Berlin. Election to the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities is a distinguished recognition of outstanding scholarly achievement. We are proud to celebrate this milestone with Professor Sasse and congratulate her on this well-deserved honor.