On October 1, 2025, Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier will award Prof. Dr. Katharina A. Zweig the Cross of Merit on Ribbon of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany at Bellevue Palace in Berlin. This honor recognizes a scientist who has made an outstanding contribution to the critical dialogue on the role of computer science in our society.

Katharina Zweig has been a professor in the Department of Computer Science at RPTU Kaiserslautern-Landau since 2012. With great dedication, she has created and established the nationally unique degree program in socio-informatics. It trains students to understand the interplay between technology and society and to take responsibility for the use of digital technologies – a topic that is now receiving the utmost attention in politics, business, and civil society.

Zweig also shapes public discourse beyond the university: her books—including “Ein Algorithmus hat kein Taktgefühl” (An Algorithm Has No Sense of Tact) and “Die KI war's!” (It Was AI!)—have reached a wide readership and made complex issues relating to algorithms and artificial intelligence accessible to a general audience. She is regularly consulted as an expert in political committees and has played a key role in bringing issues of algorithmic responsibility to the forefront of social and political debates.

Prof. Zweig has already received numerous awards for her work, including the Communicator Prize from the German Research Foundation and the Stifterverband, as well as the Abt Jerusalem Prize. The Federal Cross of Merit now recognizes her outstanding contributions to the responsible development, teaching, and application of computer science—and to the dialogue between science and society.

The Department of Computer Science at RPTU congratulates Prof. Zweig on this special honor and is delighted to have a colleague in its ranks who combines science, teaching, and social engagement in such an exemplary manner.