Joybrato Mukherjee

Education

Born in the Rhineland in Germany as the son of Indian immigrants, Joybrato Mukherjee studied English Language and Literature, Biology and Pedagogy at the Technical University of Aachen, where he completed his master's degree and took the First State Examination (the teaching degree in Germany) in 1997. After a period as a trainee teacher and part-time teacher at the "Gymnasium am Wirteltor", Düren, he took the Second State Examination in 1999 and embarked on his doctoral studies at the University of Bonn with a major in English philology and minors in genetics and educational science. In 2000 he gained his PhD in English Linguistics with a dissertation on the interaction between intonation and syntax. It was also at Bonn that he completed his habilitation, for which he wrote a post-doctoral thesis on English ditransitive verbs, and that he received the venia legendi in 2003, the German authorisation to teach at university, in the field of English Philology.

Academic career

in 2003, Joybrato Mukherjee was appointed to the chair of English Linguistics at the University of Giessen. His research interests include Applied Corpus Linguistics, English Syntax and Varieties of English. At the University of Giessen, he is a principal investigator at the International Graduate Centre for the Study of Culture (GCSC), which has been funded under the Excellence Initiative of the German federal and state governments since 2006, and a member of the Centre for Media and Interactivity (ZMI). He is also Vice-Chairman of the Board of uni-assist e.V. (University Application Service for International Students) and President of the Executive Board of the International Computer Archive of Modern and Medieval English (ICAME).

Mukherjee has been Vice-President of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) since 2012. Working alongside DAAD President Margret Wintermantel, he is part of the leadership of one of the most important funding organisations worldwide for the international exchange of students and researchers.

Although he received several calls to other universities, including the universities of Zurich (Switzerland) and Salzburg (Austria), Mukherjee chose to stay at the University of Giessen. The University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine of Iasi (Romania) awarded him an Honorary Doctorate (Dr. h. c.) in 2012 for his academic achievements and his contribution to strengthening the excellent ties between the two universities.

Politics, university governance and policy

Mukherjee is a member of the SPD (Social Democratic Party of Germany) and was nominated by the Hessian SPD to participate in the 14th Federal Convention, which elected the German Federal President on 30 June 2010.

Between 2004 and 2008 Joybrato Mukherjee was Vice Dean of the Faculty of Language, Literature and Culture; between 2005/2006 and 2008 he was also a member of the senate at the University of Giessen as well as the spokesperson for the "Neue Universität", a group of politically independent professors supporting the university's development. At the beginning of 2008, Mukherjee was elected First Vice-President of the University of Giessen by a large majority. On 8 March 2009, the extended senate elected him President of the university in the first ballot, with 20 out of 34 votes. He took office on 16 December 2009, succeeding Stefan Hormuth. On 11 February 2015, the extended senate elected Mukherjee president for a second term until 2021. Again, he won the election in the first ballot, securing 27 out of 34 votes.

Publications (selection)