The Hasso Plattner Institute congratulates Prof. Jiska Classen on receiving the Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Prize. The German Research Foundation (DFG) awards the prize once a year to scientists in the early stages of their careers in recognition of outstanding achievements. The award is endowed with 200,000 euros and is intended to encourage the recipients to continue pursuing their scientific careers.
Jiska Classen has been a professor at the Digital Engineering Faculty, jointly supported by HPI and the University of Potsdam, since August 1, 2025, and heads the “Mobile and Wireless Security” research group. Prior to this, the security researcher served as a junior research group leader at HPI for two years.
In her research, Prof. Jiska Classen focuses on security and data protection in mobile and wireless applications such as iOS, Android, and IoT devices. In doing so, she and her team specifically identify vulnerabilities in widely used systems and help to better secure them. Many of these applications already use artificial intelligence today. The security expert is researching how to strike a balance between usability and data protection—so that no unauthorized data is transmitted to the AI model or to third parties.
Prof. Jiska Classen is delighted with the award: “This prize means a lot to me. It is a great recognition of my work to date and, at the same time, an incentive for upcoming projects. This funding opens up valuable opportunities to further explore important research questions. In the long term, I will focus even more on not only identifying vulnerabilities but also actively making systems more secure. And I am delighted that my team and the students will benefit from this funding.”
Prof. Tobias Friedrich, HPI Director and Dean of the Digital Engineering Faculty, offers his congratulations: “For me, Jiska Classen is one of the most impressive young voices in cybersecurity research. Through her work, she provides important scientific and societal impulses while simultaneously supporting her students with great dedication and attention. That she is now receiving the Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Prize is a well-deserved and fitting recognition of her work to date.”
The Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Prize is named after the physicist and former president of the German Research Foundation. It has been awarded since 1977 to scientists in the early stages of their careers and is intended to serve as recognition and encouragement for outstanding scientific work. This year, a total of three female scientists and seven male scientists are receiving this award.
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