Scientific Advisory Board
Independent scientific advice and quality assurance

Tasks

The Scientific Advisory Board advises the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin on strategic and programmatic matters. It regularly evaluates the museum’s research output and provides impetus for its further development.

Research museums such as the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin strive for scientific excellence. To this end, independent advice from experts with an external perspective is not only helpful but indispensable. This is the role of the Scientific Advisory Board.

The Advisory Board guides the strategic direction of research, evaluates the museum’s scientific achievements every seven years as part of a so-called audit, and provides impetus for new topics and developments. It advises both the museum management and the Foundation Board on all scientific and programmatic matters.

Composition

The Scientific Advisory Board comprises up to ten internationally recognised academics from Germany and abroad. The members have a close professional connection to the museum’s key research areas, are generally active in their professional careers and, where possible, have museum experience.

The Board of Trustees appoints the members for a term of four years; a single reappointment is possible. Dual membership of the Board of Trustees and the Scientific Advisory Board is not permitted. As with the Board of Trustees, the members of the Scientific Advisory Board serve in an honorary capacity.

Members

The current members of the Scientific Advisory Board are:

  • Julia Fischer, German Primate Centre / Georg-August University of Göttingen
  • Heike Rauer, German Aerospace Centre (DLR) / Free University of Berlin
  • Michael Hagner, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich
  • Gesche Joost, Berlin University of the Arts / Goethe-Institut (Deputy Spokesperson)
  • Michael Meyer, FILK Freiberg Institute gGmbH, Freiberg
  • Stefanie Molthagen-Schnöring, Berlin University of Applied Sciences (HTW)
  • Facil Tesfaye, University of Hong Kong
  • Birgitta Wolff, University of Wuppertal (spokesperson)