Max Löhning (*1969) carries out research at the Department of Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology at Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, as well as at the German Rheumatism Research Center Berlin (DRFZ), where he directs the Pitzer Laboratory of Osteoarthritis Research, which is funded by the Willy Robert Pitzer Stiftung and the Dr. Rolf M. Schwiete Stiftung. Foundations have played a major role throughout his career. As a fellow of the German Academic Scholarship Foundation (Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes), he studied biology in Mainz and earned his doctorate in 2000 at the Institute for Genetics at the University of Cologne with research stays at NIH in Bethesda, Maryland, and at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri. After a postdoc at the Institute of Experimental Immunology at ETH/University Hospital Zürich, Switzerland, which was supported by the Schering Stiftung, he moved to Berlin to serve as Volkswagen Foundation-funded Lichtenberg Professor at the Charité before he was appointed Professor of Experimental Immunology and Osteoarthritis Research in 2012. Max Löhning is a member of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities (BBAW) where he has served as Spokesperson of its Biological and Medical Science Class since 2017. In addition, he is a member of the board of the Deutsche Rheumastiftung, a former member of Die Junge Akademie at the BBAW and of the Leopoldina – German National Academy of Sciences, and the recipient of several science awards.

Julia Fischer is Professor for Primate Cognition at Georg-August-Universität Göttingen and head of the Cognitive Ethology Lab at the German Primate Center. Her research interest is in the social behavior, communication, and cognition of nonhuman primates. After completing her PhD in 1996 at the FU Berlin, she carried out research at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia and at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig before being appointed professor in Göttingen.

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.

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.

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.

After studying art history, philosophy and sociology, Heike Catherina Mertens founded the association stadtkunstprojekte to promote art in public spaces. From 2007 to 2018, she was a board member of the Schering Stiftung. Other full-time positions held by the cultural and foundation manager until 2024 were Program Director of Hatje Cantz Verlag, Managing Director of Villa Aurora & Thomas Mann House e.V. and member of the Board of the Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach Foundation.