Thomas Maissen (born 23 October 1962 in Zurich, Switzerland) is a professor of modern history at Heidelberg University and co-director of the Cluster of Excellence "Asia and Europe in a Global Context".

[5] In 2006, Maissen became a full member of the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities[6] and of the Kommission für geschichtliche Landeskunde (Commission for Historical Regional Studies) in Baden-Württemberg.

[7] From 2008 to 2013, Maissen was the coordinator of the joint master programme degree at the Heidelberg University and the École des hautes études en sciences sociales (EHESS).

Under his leadership, the GHIP widened its geographic focus and initiated a cooperation with the Cheikh Anta Diop University in Dakar through the creation of the research group “La bureaucratisation des sociétés africaines” in 2015.

In his book “Schweizer Heldengeschichten“ (2015), he confronted political discourses of right wing Swiss politicians Christoph Blocher and Ueli Maurer with the current state of historical research.