Michael Wübbenhorst was born in Stendal, Germany in 1958. He received his Master and Ph.D. degrees in physics from the University of Leipzig in 1985 and 1989 respectively. In 1990, he joined the Delft University of Technology in The Netherlands as a post-doctoral researcher. In 1995, he became assistant professor in the polymer group at TU Delft. From his position as associate professor (2004) he moved to Belgium where he was appointed at the KU Leuven as professor in experimental soft matter physics in 2005. Since 2014 he is head of the Laboratory for Soft Matter and Biophysics (formerly ATF). His scientific interest covers soft matter physics with emphasis on glass forming materials, functional polymers and liquid as well as molecular crystals. He is a member of the German Physical Society (DPG), American Chemical Society (ACS), Belgian Physical Society, IEEE, and a board member of the International Dielectric Society (IDS) and serves in the scientific advisory committees of various international conferences.