Jens Schneider is Rector of TU Wien since October 2023. He serves as Vice President of the Complexity Science Hub Vienna.

A passion for science, innovation, and their practical implementation in people’s lives is a common thread running through Jens Schneider’s career—rooted in his conviction that science knows no borders and thrives through genuine human collaboration across all boundaries.

After earning his doctorate in civil engineering from TU Darmstadt in 2001 for his research on glass as a structural material, strengthened by international experience—including a year of study at the University of Coimbra, Portugal, on an Erasmus scholarship—he spent nearly two decades balancing research and industry expertise. Fluent in German and English, and also speaking Portuguese, he worked in renowned engineering consultancies and founded his own engineering firm, while becoming a certified expert in glass construction in 2006.

Since 2009, Jens Schneider has held a full professorship at the Institute of Structural Mechanics and Design at TU Darmstadt, where he leads research on glass structures, bridge dynamics, and energy-efficient buildings. From 2017 to 2020, he served as Dean of the Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering and from 2020 to 2023 as a Vice President for Transfer and International Affairs.

Beyond the university, Jens Schneider holds significant responsibility in international standardization and innovation committees on glass and glass design in the built environment. He serves as editor-in-chief of the peer-reviewed Journal of Glass Structures & Engineering and has supervised more than 20 doctoral researchers, many of whom now hold leading positions in industry and academia.

Furthermore, in his role as Co-Chair of EULiST (“European Universities Linking Society and Technology”), he supports the alliance of European universities, which is dedicated to sustainably promoting academic collaboration as well as knowledge and technology transfer across national borders.

His scientific work has received recognition including the 2010 Athene Prize for Excellence in Teaching, the German Engineering Construction Award (2016), and the German Design Award (2018) for the ETA-Factory on TU Darmstadt’s campus—a showcase for energy-efficient building design and innovation.