Speakers

Katja Becker, President of the German Research Foundation (DFG), studied medicine at Heidelberg University, where she obtained her doctoral degree and habilitation. She held positions at the Center for Infectious Diseases, Würzburg University and accepted a chair in Biochemistry & Molecular Biology at Giessen University.

Professor Dr. Ulla Bonas' research is focused on the genetic and molecular analysis of pathogenicity and plant disease resistance in the Xanthomonas/plant interaction. She is Vice-President of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina since 2015.

Nienke Buisman is deputy Director International Cooperation in Research and Innovation since 2021 and Head of Unit International Cooperation Policy in the European Commission, Directorate-General Research & Innovation since 2019.

Janneke Gerards is professor of fundamental rights law at the Montaigne Centre for Rule of Law and Administration of Justice of Utrecht University (the Netherlands). She conducts research mainly in the fields of European fundamental rights, judicial review and new technologies.

Fabiola Gianotti is an experimental particle physicist. Since 1 January 2016 she is Director-General of CERN and is the first to be reappointed for a full second term in CERN's history. She has worked on several experiments at CERN, covering detector R&D and construction, software development and data analysis. A large part of her activity was devoted to the search for the Higgs boson.

Valeska Huber has been Tenure Track Professor at the Institute of Contemporary History at the University of Vienna since 2022. She previously headed the Emmy Noether Group Reaching the People: Communication and Global Orders in the Twentieth Century at Freie Universität Berlin and worked as a Research Fellow in Global and Colonial History at the German Historical Institute London.

Iliana Ivanova is the European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth. She previously served as Member of the European Court of Auditors (2013 – 2023), as Member of the European Parliament (2009 – 2012) and as a Member of Sofia City Council (2007 – 2009).

Lara Keuck is a professor for history and philosophy of medicine at Bielefeld University and leads an independent Max Planck Research Group on Practices of Validation in the Biomedical Sciences at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Berlin.

Professor Antonio Loprieno became the President of ALLEA, the European Federation of Academies of Sciences and Humanities, in May 2018. Antonio Loprieno studied Egyptology, linguistics and Semitic studies at the University of Turin in Italy. Among other positions, he served as President of the Swiss Academies of Arts and Sciences (2018-2019), President of the Jacobs University Bremen (2019-2020).

Christoph Markschies studied Theology, Classics and Philosophy at the Universities of Marurg, Munich, Tübingen, and in Jerusalem. His research focus is on Ancient Christianity.

Henry Marx is the State Secretary for Higher Education and Research of the state of Berlin. As deputy head of the Senate Department he is responsible for all political and administrative decision of the government in Berlin.

Prof. Dr. Hermann Parzinger is President of the Stiftung Preussischer Kulturbesitz/SPK (Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation) since 2008. Consisting of 25 museums, libraries, archives, and research institutions, the SPK is one the largest cultural institution in the world.