Anna Maria Oberländer takes over junior professorship

Before coming to Bayreuth, Prof. Dr. Anna Maria Oberländer had completed the Elite Network programme in Finance and Information Management (M.Sc.) at the Technical University of Munich and the University of Augsburg and was on two research stays at the Queensland University of Technology (Brisbane). In spring 2014, she was also accepted into the 16th class of the Bavarian Elite Academy, where she studied value-oriented leadership in Germany, Belgium, China and Vietnam. During her studies, Oberländer gained practical experience at home and abroad at Siemens, Siemens Financial Services and Allianz, among others. From 2015 to 2018, Oberländer initially worked as a consultant for the international strategy consultancy McKinsey & Company, primarily supporting clients from the industrial and financial sectors on topics related to digital transformation, process digitalisation and innovation management. She has been at the University of Bayreuth since 2018, and has now taken on the junior professorship for Business Informatics and Digital Transformation on 1 March 2023.

"I am very excited about the associated opportunity to continue shaping the development of the field of business informatics at the University of Bayreuth as well as the Fraunhofer FIT's business informatics section in a leading role," says Oberländer. Based on her previous role as a temporary academic councillor, Oberländer has planned to intensify and further develop her research, teaching and practical activities around the digital transformation of established organisations. "In doing so, the junior professorship primarily gives me a long-term perspective that allows me to deepen my research and to supervise and accompany doctoral students in their doctoral studies at the University of Bayreuth, to strengthen my practice collaborations in the region and to make my teaching - according to Corona - even more interactive and inspiring. In addition, the topics of diversity, equal opportunities and the advancement of women are close to my heart, which is why I want to continue to be strongly involved in these areas."

The close networking of the Department of Business Informatics at the University of Bayreuth with the Fraunhofer FIT's Business Informatics Department as well as the cross-university cooperation of business informatics within the framework of the FIM Core Competence Centre is particularly exciting for Prof. Oberländer. "On the one hand, this strong network inspires my research around understanding and shaping the digital transformation of established organisations," she says. "On the other hand, it allows me to transfer my research findings to corporate practice on a supraregional level, which is very close to my heart." This strong, cross-institutional network is unique in business informatics, she says.

In addition to the inspiring campus, the cooperative atmosphere and the spirit of innovation, the University of Bayreuth has another special locational advantage in Oberländer's eyes: "Students in Bayreuth are very special - particularly committed, particularly inquisitive, particularly innovative and particularly networked. I am thrilled to be able to continue teaching here and look forward to all students who are interested in working with me at the chair and in the Fraunhofer FIT Business Informatics Department! Applications are most welcome."