Award Heidelberg Ancient Near East Scholar is “University Professor of the Year”
Press Release No. 139/2025
4 December 2025
Stefan Maul honored for research studies in ancient Niniveh
Under most difficult conditions, assyriologist Prof. Dr Stefan Maul advocates for the exploration and safeguarding of the significant pre-Islamic cultural heritage in Iraq. That is why the scholar representing Ancient Near East Studies at Heidelberg University has now been honored as “University Professor of the Year 2026”. With the prize, the German Association of University Professors and Lecturers (DHV) recognizes Prof. Maul’s extraordinary efforts to preserve cultural sites in the ancient city of Niniveh, the erstwhile capital of the Assyrian Empire. Since 2018 he has played a major role in the excavations taking place there and contributes greatly to making Mesopotamia’s cultural heritage accessible to present-day generations. The award comes with 10,000 euros.
With his team, Prof. Maul is exploring the ruins of ancient Niniveh. The city lies in the region of today’s city of Mosul in northern Iraq. Troops of the so-called Islamic State had blown up a large mosque there in 2014. That revealed the ruins of a huge Assyrian royal palace, erected in the 7th century BCE. At the request of the Iraqi government, Prof. Maul got crucially involved in rescuing the destroyed cultural site, together with his Heidelberg colleague Prof. Dr Peter Miglus. Since 2018 a Heidelberg team of Assyriologists and archeologists have been conducting digs in ancient Niniveh, and in collaboration with Iraqi colleagues and authorities, developing plans for safeguarding, presenting and sustainably protecting the pre-Islamic cultural heritage of the city of Mosul. Gradually parts of the excavated royal palace are being restored and made accessible to the public. On top of this, the Heidelberg team is restoring the Assyrian monuments that were smashed to pieces in the completely destroyed museums of Mosul.
The Heidelberg scholar has rendered outstanding services to the revival of antiquity studies in Iraq, which had been practically wiped out due to war and terror, underlined DHV President Prof. Dr Lambert T. Koch in the statement of reasons for the award: “Thanks to Stefan Maul’s initiative, Iraqi students are now being taught at the highest academic level in Mosul to read cuneiform script with the aid of original tablets.” His pioneering commitment impressively demonstrates the great value of what are called the “minor subjects”, he added. After all, reflecting on common traditions could be the basis for a common identity for the ethnically and religiously fragmented population in Iraq. “Despite all differences, the people in Iraq can agree on a joint narrative: the cultural heritage of Mesopotamia. It fills everyone with pride that the first human civilization arose in the area of today’s Iraq,” Prof. Maul emphasizes.
Stefan Maul studied Assyriology, Near Eastern Archeology and Egyptology at the University of Göttingen, where he also earned his doctorate. His habilitation took place at Freie Universität Berlin. In 1995 he was appointed to a professorship for Assyriology at Heidelberg University. Since April 2025 he has been conducting his research as Senior Professor at Ruperto Carola’s Department of Languages and Cultures of the Near East. Visiting professorships have taken him to Paris, Rome and London. Prof. Maul has received multiple awards for his research, including the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize of the German Research Foundation, the most important research advancement prize in Germany.
The German Association of University Professors and Lecturers is the professional body representing academics in Germany. In granting the award “University Professor of the Year” since 2007, it has acknowledged extraordinary commitment that prominently boosts the reputation of the profession in the general public. The prize will be presented to Stefan Maul on 23 March 2026 in Berlin.