New members appointed

In December 2022, the Executive Committee of the DFG decided to renew the mandate of the German Committee Future Earth (DKN) for another three years. For this fourth term of office, the interdisciplinary committee includes 9 members. The ad-personam appointed members contribute with expertise from different scientific perspectives and subject areas of sustainability research.

For the period 2023-2025 the DFG Executive Committee has appointed the following members to German Committee Future Earth:

Prof. Dr. Michael Bollig, Professor for Anthropology, Board Member of the Global South Studies Center (GSCC) in Cologne and Associate Vice Rector for International Relations with the Global South at the University of Cologne

Prof. Dr. Aletta Bonn, Head of the Department of Ecosystem Services at the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ in Leipzig and Professor for Ecosystem Services at the Friedrich Schiller University Jena within the framework of the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle - Jena - Leipzig

Prof. Dr. Anna-Katharina Hornidge, Director of the German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS) and Professor for Global Sustainable Development at the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-University in Bonn

Prof. Dr. Daniela Jacob (Chair), Head of the Climate Service Center Germany (GERICS) in Hamburg, an institution of Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon and visiting professor at the Faculty of Sustainability of the Leuphana University of Lüneburg

Prof. Dr. Thomas Potthast, Professor for Ethics, Philosophy and History of the Life Sciences and Co-Director of the International Center for Ethics in the Sciences and Humanities (IZEW) at the Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen

Prof. Dr. Markus Reichstein, Director at the Max-Planck-Institute for Biogeochemistry in Jena, Professor for Global Geoecology and Founding Director of the Michael Stifel Center Jena for Data-Driven and Simulation Sciences at Friedrich Schiller University Jena

Prof. Dr. Britta Renner, Professor for Psychological Assessment and Health Psychology at the University of Konstanz

Prof. Dr. Jakob Rhyner, Professor of Global Change and Systemic Risks at the Agricultural Faculty of the University of Bonn and Scientific Director of the Bonn Alliance for Sustainability Research

Prof. Dr. Bernd Siebenhüner, Professor for Ecological Economics at the Department of Business Administration, Economics and Law of the Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg


As a scientific advisory body and national platform for research in the context of the international programmes „Future Earth" and the World Climate Research Programme „WCRP“, the German Committee Future Earth fosters the international and national dialogue about global sustainability science. Commencing its inaugural meeting on the first of March 2023 in Berlin, the newly appointed members will start their work.


We very much thank the outgoing members of German Committee Future Earth Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jörn Birkmann (University of Stuttgart), Prof. Dr. Ute Nöthlings (Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-University of Bonn), Prof. Dr. Konrad Ott (Christian-Albrechts-University of Kiel), Prof. Dr. Martin Quaas (University of Leipzig) und Prof. Dr. Imme Scholz (Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung) for their expertise, support and the productive collaboration in the last years.