Member of the German Bundestag since October 2013. Member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) since 17 December 1972, member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs; SPD speaker on the Subcommittee on Civilian Crisis Prevention, Conflict Management and Integrated Action; Deputy Chair of the Subcommittee on Disarmament and of the Committee on Human Rights and Humanitarian Aid; member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.Memberships include German Platform for Peaceful Conflict Management, Parliamentary Network on Nuclear Disarmament and Non-Proliferation (PNND). Mathematician. Doctor of Natural Sciences (1986).