31.07.2025 LOEWE Starting Professorship for Dr. Mareike Grotheer

The researcher is investigating how the human brain develops - state program provides around two million euros

Psychologist Dr. Mareike Grotheer has been awarded a LOEWE Starting Professorship at Philipps-Universität Marburg. She is researching the question of how the brain develops during childhood and when learning new skills. The state of Hesse is providing around two million euros from LOEWE funds over a total of six years for this purpose, thereby also strengthening the successful Cluster of Excellence “The Adaptive Mind”, in which Dr. Grotheer is involved.

"Dr. Mareike Grotheer is investigating the question of how the unique human ability to learn can be explained. She is thus making valuable contributions to developmental research and new approaches to dealing with learning disorders," says Minister of Science Timon Gremmels. "With her international visibility, her impressive publication record and her expertise in science communication, Dr. Grotheer strengthens Hessian research. Her work in the research network ‘The Adaptive Mind’, one of the successful clusters in the current round of the Excellence Strategy of the federal and state governments, is of particular importance."

Humans begin life completely dependent on the care of others. Over time, however, they acquire abilities that are unique in the animal kingdom. In order to decipher the biological basis of this phenomenon, Dr. Grotheer's team is researching how the brain changes during development and what processes take place when we learn new skills. State-of-the-art imaging techniques are combined with behavioral measurements. In the past, Dr. Grotheer has already been able to show that math and reading skills are largely processed in parallel in the brain and uncover the mechanisms that control the maturation of brain tissue in infancy.

Prof. Dr. Thomas Nauss, President of Philipps-Universität Marburg: "With the LOEWE Start Professorship for Dr. Mareike Grotheer, we are specifically strengthening our research profile in the field of education and neuroscience. At the same time, the funding underlines Philipps-Universität Marburg's strategic focus on forward-looking research priorities. It is an important building block for profile development and competitiveness within the framework of the Excellence Strategy."

After studying biology and neuroscience, Dr. Grotheer completed her doctorate in psychology. She then went to the USA on a scholarship from the German Research Foundation and conducted research at the renowned Stanford University, where she received two Innovation Grants. In 2021, she returned to Germany and took over the management of the Educational Neuroscience Lab at the Philipps University of Marburg. She leads a sub-project in the Collaborative Research Center “Cardinal Mechanisms of Perception” (SFB / TRR 135). In 2024, she was awarded a Starting Grant from the European Research Council.

Background: What are LOEWE professorships?

With LOEWE Top Professorships, excellent, internationally recognized researchers can receive between 1.5 and 3 million euros for five years to fund their professorship.

LOEWE Start Professorships are aimed at excellent scientists at an early stage of their career, who are recruited or retained in Hessen as a science location for a period of six years with funding of up to two million euros.

The LOEWE transfer professorships, currently in the pilot phase, support researchers in further developing application-oriented results in exchange with partners from the field in such a way that they successfully contribute to solving social, cultural or economic issues. The funding amounts to up to one million euros to endow a professorship for five years.

Source: Press release from the Hessian Ministry of Science, Research, Art and Culture (HMWK)