Matthias Gauly studied agricultural (animal science) and veterinary science at the Universities of Bonn and Gießen, Germany. Additionally he performed PhDs in both disciplines. Between 1998 and 2003 he was Assistant Professor at the Institute of Animal Breeding and Genetics at the University of Gießen, Germany, where he received his postdoctoral lecture qualification (Habilitation) in Animal Science and Husbandry (Venia legendi). Afterwards he moved to the Department of Animal Science at the University of Göttingen, where he was Full-Professor and chair of the Livestock production system group until 2014. Since than he chairs the Animal Science group at the Faculty of Agricultural, Environmental and Food Sciences of the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano.

Beside university activities he is active in various positions. E.g. he is Member of the scientific board of the German Federal Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection, Member of the Board of the German Agriculture Society (DLG), President of the European Federation of Animal Science (EAAP) or member of the Management Board of the Journal “Animal”, Cambridge Press.