Academic Advisory Council (AAC)
The Academic Advisory Council was founded in 2006 during the planning of the institutional strategy; its role is to advise on strategy for Heidelberg University in connection with the Excellence Initiative. It gave institutional form to existing longstanding contacts between the University and numerous eminent international scholars and representatives of industry.
Terms of reference
The implementation of the third funding line of the Excellence Initiative cannot be separated from the general strategic development of the University, and so the advisory function of the Council has now been extended to cover strategy concerning the whole institution. The ACC monitors and accompanies the implementation of the institutional strategy along with general developments at the University, advising the Rectorate in all questions relating to further conceptual planning for its future. The ACC’s members bring with them international and economic expertise. At the Council's meetings, the Rectorate reports on current developments and plans at the University and discusses fundamental strategic issues.
Composition
The members of the ACC are eminent scholars from internationally esteemed universities and research institutions, high-ranking representatives of industry and senior academics from the University of Heidelberg.
Members
The AAC currently has 11 members:
8 external members from academia
1 external member from the business community
2 internal members from Heidelberg University
Dr. Ulrike Albrecht – Consultant, Global Research Cooperation and Internationalization Strategies; former Head of Department Strategy and External Relations, Alexander von Humboldt Foundation
Prof. Geoffrey S. Boulton – Senior Honorary Professorial Fellow, former Vice-Principal and Regius Professor of Geology Emeritus, School of GeoSciences, University of Edinburgh (AAC Chairman)
Prof. Dr. Louise Gunning-Schepers – University Professor of Health and Society at the University of Amsterdam; former President, Executive Board of the University of Amsterdam and the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences
Prof. David P. Landau – Distinguished Research Professor of Physics and founding Director of the Center for Simulational Physics at the University of Georgia; Fellow of the American Physical Society (APS); Chair of the C20 Commission on Computational Physics for the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP)
Wolf Lichtenstein – Senior Advisor McKinsey & Company Inc.; former General Manager at SAS Germany, Austria and Switzerland
Prof. Sir Colin Lucas – Emeritus Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University; Chairman Emeritus of the British Library, former Trustee, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation (New York)
Prof. Marja Makarow – Director, Biocenter Finland; former Vice President for Research, Academy of Finland; Chairperson of the Board of Technology Academy Finland; Professor of applied biochemistry and molecular biology, University of Helsinki; former Chief Executive of the European Science Foundation (ESF), Strasbourg
Prof. Dr. Peter Malanczuk – Adjunct Professor of Law of the University of Hong Kong; Member of the International Commercial Expert Committee of the Supreme People’s Court of China and the Council of the Shenzhen Court of International Arbitration (SCIA); Chairman of the SCIA Strategic Development and Rules Amendment Committee; Member of the International Law Association (ILA) Committee on International Commercial Arbitration; Emeritus C.V. Starr Professor of Law of the Peking University School of Transnational Law
Prof. Dr. Axel Michaels – Senior Professor and former Director of the Cluster of Excellence "Asia and Europe in a Global Context", Heidelberg University; Director of the Department of Classical Indology, South Asia Institute, Heidelberg University; Head of the Research Unit "Documents on the History of Religion and Law of pre-modern Nepal", Heidelberg Academy of Science and Humanities
Prof. Dr. Christof Wetterich – Institute for Theoretical Physics, Heidelberg University
Prof. Dr. Margret Wintermantel – President of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD); former President of the German Rectors' Conference (HRK)