Stefan Kaufmann is founding director and director of the Department of Immunology of the Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology in Berlin and Professor for Microbiology and Immunology at the Charité University Hospital in Berlin. He received his Ph.D. in biology (“summa cum laude”) from Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz and completed his habilitation in the field of immunology and microbiology at the Freie Universität Berlin in 1981. From 1987 until 1991, he was Professor for Medical Microbiology and Immunology, and from 1991 until 1998, he was Full Professor for Immunology at Ulm University.

Christina Weiss was Senator for Culture of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg as well as Minister of State in the Federal Chancellory and Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media. During her terms in office, her special focus was on experimental art.

Christina Weiss is active in foundations, media institutions, and art societies. Her memberships include the Board of Trustees of the ZEIT-Stiftung and the Foundation Council of the Schering Stiftung, the Boards of Trustees of the Allianz Kulturstiftung and of the Hanne Darboven Stiftung, and the German PEN Center. www.christina-weiss.com

Charlotte Klonk studied art history at the Universities of Hamburg and Cambridge. After completing her dissertation, she was a Junior Research Fellow at Christ Church College, Oxford University, and a lecturer at the University of Warwick. Since 2011, she has been professor of art history at Humboldt Universität zu Berlin.

Ulrich Köstlin is a lawyer and businessman. From 1982 until 2011, he worked for Schering AG and Bayer Schering Pharma AG in Germany, Latin and North America; from 1994, he served as Head of Sales  and Member of the Executive Board. In his function as board member, he was instrumental in establishing the Schering Stiftung. Today, he holds several supervisory board memberships and, in a private and voluntary capacity, promotes the arts and music.

Hartmut Michel studied Biochemistry at the Universities of Tübingen and Munich. He completed his doctoral degree at the University of Würzburg in 1977 and habilitated in 1988 at the University of Munich. Since 1987 he is Director at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysics at Frankfurt/Main, where he leads the Department for Molecular Membrane Biology. In 1988, Hartmut Michel was awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry, together with Johannes Deisenhöfer and Robert Huber, for their investigation of the molecular structure of the photosynthesis reaction center in the rhodopseudomonas viridis bacterium.

Kemalettin Ünal studied business administration and engineering at Technische Universität Berlin. From 1981 until 1982, he worked as controller with Polygram GmbH in Hamburg before moving to Schering AG in Berlin. There, he was in charge of Controlling and Finance for more than 25 years, last as Head of Finance. Since 2007, Kemalettin Ünal has worked as a freelance investment consultant.