Gerhard Sagerer (born 1956 in Ludwigshafen am Rhein) has been Professor of Applied Computer Science at the Faculty of Technology at Bielefeld University since 1990. He previously studied computer science at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, where he also earned his doctorate in 1985 and his habilitation in 1990. In 1996 he held a visiting professorship at the University of Rochester, New York.
Gerhard Sagerer's focus of research includes cognitive and social robotics, human-robot interaction and the architecture of intelligent systems. He was coordinator and board member of several EU projects (VAMPIRE, COGNIRON) and Collaborative Research Centres (360: "Situated Artificial Communicators", 673: "Alignment in Communication "). He was deputy spokesperson of the Cluster(s) of Excellence Cognitive Interaction Technology (CITEC) from 2007 - 2009 and on the board of the Cognitive Robotic Lab (CoRLab) operated by Bielefeld University together with the Honda Research Institute Europe from 2005 - 2009.
Gerhard Sagerer has been active in the academic self-administration of Bielefeld University since 1991, initially as a member of the Academic Senate from 1991 - 1993. From 1993 to 1995 and from 1997 to 2001 he was Dean of the Faculty of Technology. From 2001 to 2007 he was vice-?rector for education and teaching.
Gerhard Sagerer has been Rector of the University since 2009 - his third term began on 01.10.19 and ends on 30.09.2023.
From October 2015 to September 2018 he was also Chairman of the State Rectors' Conference of the Universities in NRW (LRK), and from 01.10.18 to 31.09.2022 he was Deputy Chairman of this LRK.