Fatma Deniz, the New President of TU Berlin
"The future does not happen by itself." These are not hollow words for Professor Dr. Fatma Deniz, they are words that have shaped her life.
Born in Germany, she spent her school years in Turkey, attending an all-girls school in Bursa and spending some time in boarding school. These were challenging, yet formative years for Deniz. She learned at an early age to take on responsibility, to learn how to handle uncertainty, and to forge her own path. She left school with the highest grades in her graduating class.
It was her next step that led her into academia. She studied at TU Munich and at Caltech in Pasadena, earning a doctorate in computer science from TU Berlin in collaboration with the Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience in Berlin. She then spent several years at the University of California, Berkeley. In 2020, Deniz returned to Germany's capital, taking up a professorship at TU Berlin to head the Chair of Language and Communication in Biological and Artificial Systems in 2023.
Her work revolved around one central line of questioning: How does the human brain understand and process language – and what can machines learn from it?
Her return to TU Berlin saw her taking on a range of responsibilities, including in research, teaching, and university development. From April 2024 to March 2026, Deniz was vice president for digitalization and sustainability.
On 1 April 2026, she assumed the office of President of TU Berlin at 42 years of age. She takes on this role with a strong sense of responsibility and a commitment to collaborative efforts to further develop the University.
Fatma Deniz sees the university as a place where diverse perspectives come together to pursue a shared goal: a forward-looking and effective institution where outstanding research, teaching, and the transfer of knowledge to society thrive with energy and enthusiasm. A system grounded in the idea that progress happens when people work together. And a space to be actively shaped—through better conditions for studying, teaching, and research; clearer structures; and a campus that serves as a living lab for new ideas, technologies, and new forms of collaboration.
For a university that makes a difference – in Berlin and beyond.
“The future does not happen by itself. We have to shape it. With courage, passion, and reason.”
Learn more about Fatma Deniz in this video portrait: tu.berlin/en/president-fatma-deniz
The President of Technische Universität Berlin: tu.berlin/en/executive-board/president
Further information
Technische Universität Berlin: tu.berlin/en/
The new vice presidents of TU Berlin also took up office on 1 April 2026. Find out more about Fatma Deniz's team:
Professor Dr.-Ing. Jens-Uwe Repke, Vice President for Research and Knowledge Transfer
tu.berlin/en/vice-president-jens-uwe-repke
Professor Dr. Timo Hartmann, Vice President for Education
tu.berlin/en/vice-president-timo-hartmann
Professor Eike Roswag-Klinge, Vice President for Sustainability and Campus Development
tu.berlin/en/vice-president-eike-roswag-klinge
Professor Dr. Nancy Wünderlich, Vice President for Digital Transformation
tu.berlin/en/vice-president-nancy-wuenderlich
Photo: © TU-Berlin - Philipp Arnoldt
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Prof. Dr. Fatma Deniz
Technische Universität Berlin
