Schmuckbild: Mitglieder der Senats-AG

Members of the Commission

The Commission consisted of 21 members from all academic disciplines. So in addition to the medical and epidemiological perspective, economic, ethical, legal, social, psychological and historical aspects were also included. 

This interdisciplinary composition provided an overview of the many facts of the national and international research landscape, enabled research gaps in all relevant areas to be identified and to support evidence-based research in all pandemic-related subjects

FunctionMember
ChairProfessor Dr. Katja Becker

President of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
Scientific Member

Professor Dr. Frank Allgöwer, Stuttgart 

Prof. Dr. Frank Allgöwer heads the Institute for Systems Theory and Automatic Control at the University of Stuttgart and conducts research on methods for the analysis, modelling and control of non-linear systems, on networks of systems and on optimisation and data-based control. In current publications, he deals with predicting the spread of the current pandemic and measures to control it based on a predictive model-based control procedure.

Scientific Member

Professor Dr. Marcus Altfeld, Hamburg 

Prof. Dr. Marcus Altfeld heads the Department of Virus Immunology at the Heinrich Pette Institute, Hamburg, and the Institute for Immunology at University Hospital Hamburg-Eppendorf. His research focuses on immune responses against human pathogenic viruses (especially HIV, HCV, influenza). Among other things, his work aims to develop innovative vaccination strategies and immunotherapeutic interventions.

Scientific Member

Professor Dr. Christian Apfelbacher, Magdeburg 

Prof. Dr. Christian Apfelbacher is Director of the Institute of Social Medicine and Health Systems Research at the Medical Faculty of Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg. His research focuses on the (care) epidemiology of chronic disease, healthcare and quality of life, health literacy and evidence synthesis. He is an executive board member of the German Society for Social Medicine and Prevention (DGSMP) and a member of the coordination and steering group of the COVID-19 Public Health Research Network.

Scientific Member

Professor Dr. Cordula Artelt, Bamberg 

Prof. Dr. Cordula Artelt is Director of the Leibniz Institute for Educational Trajectories (LIfBi) and holds the Chair of Longitudinal Educational Research at the University of Bamberg. She conducts research into social inequality and skills acquisition as education-related factors. She is project manager of the National Educational Panel, which collects longitudinal data on educational processes in Germany.

Scientific Member

Professor Dr. Cornelia Betsch, Erfurt 

Prof. Dr. Cornelia Betsch is Director of the Institute for Planetary Health Behaviour and an expert in health communication and health behaviour at the University of Erfurt. Her research focuses particularly on health decisions in connection with infectious diseases. Cornelia Betsch is currently leading a study on knowledge, risk perception, protective behaviour and trust during the current COVID-19 outbreak (COVID-19 Snapshot Monitoring – COSMO) together with the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) and the Federal Centre for Health Education (BZgA).

Scientific Member

Dr. Carsten Butsch, Köln 

PD Dr. Carsten Butsch conducts research at the Institute of Geography at the University of Cologne into urban health in the global south and into the handling of risks and migration processes. His academic work has included subjects such as access to health services, crisis prevention in megacities and new approaches to health reporting. He is the spokesperson for the German Geographical Society working groups “Medical Geography and Geographic Health Research” and “South Asia”.

Scientific Member

Professor Dr. Christian Drosten, Berlin 

Prof. Dr. Christian Drosten is Director of the Institute of Virology at Charité Berlin and an expert in the field of pathogenic viruses with epidemic potential. He was previously involved in the identification of the SARS-associated coronavirus (SARS-CoV1) in 2003 and his research focuses on the epidemiology and ecology of coronaviruses. In 2020, the Stifterverband and the DFG awarded him the “Special Prize for Outstanding Communication of Science in the COVID-19 Pandemic”.

Scientific Member

Professor Dr. Eva Grill, München 

Prof. Dr. Eva Grill is Professor of Epidemiology at the Institute for Medical Information Processing, Biometry, and Epidemiology at LMU Munich. Her research focuses on ageing, participation and patient-reported outcomes. She is a member of the COVID-19 Public Health Research Network and President of the German Society for Epidemiology (DGEpi).

Scientific Member

Professor Dr. Susanne Herold, Gießen 

Prof. Dr. Susanne Herold is Professor of Infectious Diseases of the Lung at Justus Liebig University in Giessen and Head of Department of the Infectious Diseases Unit at the University Hospital in Giessen. Her research interests include antiviral defence mechanisms in connection with influenza and coronavirus infections and the respiratory pathologies associated with these. She is a member of the scientific advisory board of the Robert Koch Institute.

Scientific MemberProfessor Dr. Stefan Liebig, Berlin 

Prof. Dr. Stefan Liebig is Professor at the Chair of "Social Structure Analysis and Survey Methodology" at the Institute of Sociology at the FU Berlin. He conducts research into the perception and evaluation of social inequalities and problems of survey methodology. In a joint project with the University of Bielefeld, he is leading the study “Socio-economic factors and consequences of the spread of the coronavirus in Germany” (SOEP-CoV) at the DIW and, together with the RKI, the nationwide antibody study “Living in Germany – Corona Monitoring” (RKI-SOEP). These two studies are looking into the acute, medium and long-term socio-economic factors and consequences of the spread of the coronavirus in Germany.
Scientific MemberProfessor Dr. Stephan Ludwig, Münster 

Prof. Dr. Stephan Ludwig heads the Institute of Virology at the University of Münster. He conducts research into influenza viruses and their infection mechanisms and is a site manager involved in coordinating the National Research Platform for Zoonoses. In addition to his molecular cell biology research, he studies approaches to antiviral therapy.
Scientific Member

Professor Dr. Michael Meyer-Hermann, Braunschweig 

Prof. Dr. Michael Meyer-Hermann heads the Department of Systems Immunology at the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI). He is also a professor at TU Braunschweig and a member of the board of directors of the Braunschweig Integrated Centre of Systems Biology (BRICS), an institution administrated jointly by the HZI and TU Braunschweig. In his interdisciplinary research, he works on establishing mathematical methods in biology and immunology with the aim of understanding disease and improving therapy.

Scientific Member

Professor Dr. Jörn Müller-Quade, Karlsruhe 

Prof. Dr. Jörn Müller-Quade heads the working groups Cryptography and Security Research at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and is Director at the Computer Science Research Centre there. He is a computer scientist and an expert in computer algebra. In the context of the coronavirus pandemic, his scientific interest lies in the information security of contact tracing apps.

Scientific Member

Professor Dr. Carla Nau, Lübeck 

Prof. Dr. Carla Nau is Director of the Department of Anaesthesiology and Surgical Intensive Care at the University Medical Center Schleswig-Holstein, Lübeck Campus. She is mainly involved in pain research, in particular postoperative pain treatment. She is also an expert in the intensive care and emergency outpatient technologies needed to treat and understand COVID-19 and other respiratory diseases.

Scientific Member

Professor Dr. Karen Nolte, Heidelberg 

Prof. Dr. Karen Nolte holds the Chair in Medical History and Ethics and is Director of the Institute of the same name at the University of Heidelberg. She is concerned with the history of medicine and nursing, the history of patients, gender and the body, and the history of psychiatry and medical ethics from the 18th to the 20th century. Her research work has focused on such areas as hospital and clinic historiography as well as that of nursing.

Scientific Member

Professor Dr.-Ing. Michael Schlüter, Hamburg 

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Michael Schlüter heads the Institute for Multiphase Flows at the Technical University of Hamburg. His research focuses on fluid particles in flows of biological and chemical processes. He is particularly interested in transport processes, ranging from microscopic to large-scale. He is an appointed member of the ProcessNet Subject Division on Multiphase Flows and Chair of the EFCE Division on Multiphase Fluid Flow.

Scientific Member

Professor Dr. Jonas Schreyögg, Hamburg 

Prof. Dr. Jonas Schreyögg heads the Hamburg Center for Health Economics at the University of Hamburg. His research currently focuses on the efficiency and quality of hospitals; as a health economist, he is also interested in general developments in the healthcare system. Jonas Schreyögg is a member of the Advisory Council on the Assessment of Developments in the Healthcare Sector. He is a co-director of the European COvid Survey (ECOS) on people’s behavioural response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe.

Scientific Member

Professor Dr. Britta Siegmund, Berlin 

Prof. Dr. Britta Siegmund is Director of the Medical Clinic for Gastroenterology, Infectiology and Rheumatology at Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin. Her research focus is chronic inflammatory bowel diseases. Since 2019, she has been Vice-President of the DFG and Chair of the DFG Senate Commission on Key Questions in Clinical Research (SGKF).

Scientific Member

Professor Dr. Simone Sommer, Ulm 

Prof. Dr. Simone Sommer is Director of the Institute for Evolutionary Ecology and Conservation Genomics at the University of Ulm. She looks into the effects of anthropogenic environmental disturbances on the ecology, immunogenetics and health status of wild animals and the emergence and increase of zoonotic infections. Her research includes the interaction of coronavirus infections with the microbiome in bats.

Scientific Member

Professor Dr. Caren Sureth-Sloane, Paderborn 

Prof. Dr. Caren Sureth-Sloane is Professor of Business Administration, in particular Business Taxation at the University of Paderborn. She conducts research into the effects of taxation on entrepreneurial decisions, especially risky investment decisions, as well as international corporate taxation, the causes and effects of tax complexity and transparency. In connection with the pandemic, she is investigating the consequences for companies and the economy and fiscal measures to cope with crises. She has been a member of the DFG Senate since 2021.

Scientific Member

Professor Dr. Uwe Volkmann, Frankfurt 

Prof. Dr. Uwe Volkmann is Professor of Public Law and Philosophy of Law at the Goethe University Frankfurt. His research focuses on constitutional theory, democratic theory and fundamental rights. In the context of the coronavirus crisis, his scientific interest is primarily focused on the questions of the proportionality of the infringements of liberty in connection with the fight against the pandemic, the constitutional containment of powers under infection control law and the safeguarding of parliamentary participation opportunities in crisis situations.

Contact

Dr. Anne Brüggemann
E-mail: Anne.Brueggemann@dfg.de
Telephone: +49 (228) 885-2213