Hanjo Hamann has held the qualifying professorship (with tenure track) for Civil Law, Business and Intellectual Property Law, particularly Law of Digitalization and Legal Linguistics, at EBS Universität since April 2022.

He studied law and psychology at the Universities of Heidelberg and Hamburg and received his doctorate in law and economics from the Universities of Bonn and Jena. International teaching and research stays took him to the European University Institute (EUI) in Florence, Sichuan University in Chengdu, and Stanford University, where he earned a Master of the Science of Law (JSM) as well as the Graduate Certificate in Digital Humanities (GCDH). His dissertation on an evidence-based approach to law has attracted widespread interest nationally and internationally. Hamann is a visiting researcher at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Common Goods, an academy fellow at the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences, and a fellow in the Daimler and Benz Foundation’s postdoctoral fellowship program.

“I am exceptionally pleased about this recognition of my work. Without numerous fellow researchers and companions, this would not have been possible. The other German civil law expert who has held a Maier-Leibnitz Award so far passed away in February - it fills me with pride and humility to be able to follow in his footsteps,” says Hamann.

Prof. Dr. Ulrich Segna, Dean of EBS Law School, says: “We are very proud to have attracted such a top-class scientist to EBS Law School. And we are very pleased that he is being recognized with this well-deserved award.”

The Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Prize of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft has been awarded since 1977 to scientists at an early stage of their careers in recognition of outstanding achievements. Since 1980, it has been named after the nuclear physicist and former DFG President Heinz Maier-Leibnitz, during whose tenure (1974-1979) it was first awarded. The prizes are endowed with 20,000 euros and are intended to support and encourage the recipients to pursue their scientific careers. Hamann is the first German jurist to receive the award since Gabriele Britz, who has since been appointed to the Federal Constitutional Court, was honored a good twenty years ago.