Sabine Helling-Moegen appointed Managing Director of the Helmholtz Association

During a special session, the Members’ Assembly of the Helmholtz Association unanimously elected science manager Sabine Helling-Moegen as the new Managing Director. She succeeds Franziska Broer, who held the position from 2016 to 2025 and transitioned on May 1 to become the Administrative Director of the University of Freiburg’s Medical Center. In the interim, Effrosyni Chelioti has served as Acting Managing Director; she will lead the “Directorate-General 1 – Policy Issues and Strategies” at the Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR) starting September 1.

Helling-Moegen will assume her new position on November 1, coinciding with the start of designated Helmholtz President Martin Keller. As Managing Director, she will support, advise and represent the President in the performance of his duties and manage the Association’s head offices in Berlin and Bonn together with their branches in Brussels, Tel Aviv, and Beijing. As a special representative for administrative affairs, she will represent the Helmholtz Association both externally and internally. Alongside the President and Vice Presidents, the Managing Director is a member of the Helmholtz Association’s Executive Committee.

Sabine Helling-Moegen expressed her gratitude for being selected and is very much aware of her new responsibilities: “Excellent science requires excellent conditions – that’s one of my core beliefs. At the head office, I plan to work together with Martin Keller and the entire team to further develop the great expertise we already have in science management into a shaping force, as well as the external conditions that allow science to be successful. Because excellence arises not only in the lab, but also through processes, structures, and suitable framework conditions. Being entrusted with contributing my experience to the community is a great vote of confidence – and a challenge I accept with enthusiasm and openness.”

Helmholtz President Otmar D. Wiestler: “I’m delighted that we were able to appoint Sabine Helling-Moegen, an outstanding science manager, as Managing Director. Her career so far has given her a deep understanding of the Helmholtz Association and beyond. With her extensive experience in administration, science policy, and change management, she has the ideal profile for the challenges ahead. I am convinced she will form a strong tandem with my successor Martin Keller. The future leadership team is now complete and ready to begin together in November.”

Martin Keller, the designated President of the Helmholtz Association, added: “I congratulate Sabine Helling-Moegen on her appointment and look forward to shaping the future of Helmholtz together starting in November. It’s a great stroke of luck that we have gained such an experienced board member as Managing Director, one who is deeply familiar with the perspectives of both the Centers and the head office.”

At the DZNE, Sabine Helling-Moegen is responsible for finance, human resources, purchasing, third-party funds, legal affairs, and infrastructure. Her career in science management began in 2002 at the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), another Research Center of the Helmholtz Association, where she quickly took on leadership responsibilities. In 2006, she moved to the Helmholtz Association’s head office and, as Division Manager Administration, oversaw traditional administrative areas as well as science policy issues. In that role, she also led the establishment of the Helmholtz Academy for Leadership. From 2011 to 2014, she was Head of Human Resources at MLP AG, where she played a key role in a company-wide transformation process. She is a fully trained lawyer, having studied law in Würzburg, Regensburg and Lisbon. She also holds a doctorate from the German University of Administrative Sciences in Speyer and a master’s degree in European and International Law from the University of Aberdeen, Scotland. 

Sabine Helling-Moegen served as Vice President and representative for the Administrative Directors of the Helmholtz Association from 2021 to 2024. She is currently the Deputy Chair of the Board of Trustees of the DZNE Foundation, Deputy Chair of the University Council of Niederrhein University of Applied Sciences, and a member of both the Board of Trustees of the Little Scientists Foundation and the Supervisory Board of the Leibniz Institute for Resilience Research.