Boards of Trustees
The Max Planck Society depends on the acceptance of the public and its willingness to support research. The Boards of Trustees of the Max Planck Institutes promote mutual understanding and convey the awareness that science is indispensable and part of our society.
Networking within the scientific community is not everything. Rather, a scientific organization has to reach out and promote the acceptance of its work. People want to know what drives the researchers, how they arrive at their results and what questions are on the agenda for the next stage.
The members of our Boards of Trustees act as liaison between the Max Planck Society with its Institutes and the public – they are advocates for the Institutes and their concerns. Assuming a key role as ambassadors, they foster positive interaction with the scientific and social environment of the Institutes and the Max Planck Society.
Our Trustees are personally committed to the success principle of independent research. Their voluntary work and their role as intermediaries are just as beneficial to the scientific community as they are to the public who wishes to share in the results.
Excellent research requires outstanding commitment: the Max Planck Society is grateful to its Trustees. Only in this way can science be successful.
2024 Discussion Forum of the Trustees
At the invitation of President Cramer and Secretary General Schwanitz
to the annual network meeting of the Trustees of the MPIs,
some fifty members of the Boards of Trustees met on December 4th 2024
in the historic lecture hall ruin on the Charité campus in Berlin.
After a presentation on science policy by the Secretary General,
the President's interview on the topic of AI and ethics
with Anne-Marie Nussberger from the MPI for Human Development
broadened the basis for the subsequent discussion in the Plenary Session.
The Trustees were extremely interested in both
the current concerns and pressing needs of the MPG and
the highly topical research of the junior scientist.
In line with the wishes of the President and the Secretary General,
the meeting provided a rich exchange of ideas
with the distinguished guests from a wide range of backgrounds.
After all, as much as science must be organized autonomously,
it is just as important for the MPG not only to provide information
to the public, but also to actively engage in a lively dialogue
and to assume social responsibility. In this context,
the Boards of Trustees of the MPIs are indispensable,
as their members gain insight into the research and provide feedback.
Following the discussion forum, Arturo Zychlinsky,
Managing Director of the neighboring MPI for Infection Biology,
invited interested Trustees to join him for a tour of the Institute
and to exchange ideas with the researchers there over lunch.
We thank all participants for their time and loyalty!