MPG City

The Max Planck Foundation was born as a private, independent, non-profit self-organization of supporters of top-level science in 2006. It exclusively supports the Max Planck Society and its Max Planck and affiliated institutes. The many projects supported include the work of several Nobel Laureates. And there are always new projects coming in that have the potential to broaden our understanding of the world. Thanks to the foundation’s supporters it is one of the largest science-promoting foundations in Germany today, yet one thing has not changed: the individual dedication to each of the Donors. Max Planck Foundation

Every year scientists and researchers from the institutes of the Max Planck Society organize a number of conferences, symposia, and conventions. The Max Planck Society has several conference venues to accommodate these events: Harnack House in Berlin Ringberg Castle on Tegernsee Max Planck House in Tübingen Max Planck House in Heidelberg Conference Venues

Representatives of the scientific staff The representative of the scientific staff is elected every three years by the scientific staff of the respective institute and confirmed by the President of the Max Planck Society. She/he represents the interests and concerns of all scientists, both towards the institute management and in the respective section (BMS, CPTS, HSS) of the MPG, in which she/he acts for a three-year period. Within the respective institute, the representative of the scientific staff takes part in institute meetings, acts as a contact person for all questions and needs of the scientific staff, and provides information at regular intervals about important questions and developments that are discussed in the BMS, CPTS or HSS and are of concern to the scientists. At the section level, the representatives take part in the section meetings and represent the diverse interests of the academic staff in the various committees (scientific council, perspective commission, appointment committees, core committees, and other bodies). Furthermore, at each section one representative of the scientific staff representatives is elected into the Senate.

The General Meeting of the members of the Max Planck Society is the principle governing body of the Society. At the General Meeting, the scientific members can e. g. adopt amendments to the statutes, elect the Senators, receive the Annual Report, as well as audit and approve the annual accounts. General Meeting

The Scientific Members include the Scientific Members of the Institutes (usually the directors), the retired Scientific Members, and the External Scientific Members of the Institutes. The Senate appoints the Scientific Members. The Scientific Members meet once a year at the MPG’s General Meeting. Governing Bodies

The Max Planck Society’s Archives in Berlin-Dahlem were established in 1975 in order to safeguard the files of the Kaiser Wilhelm / Max Planck Societies for the Advancement of Science (mainly files, photographs, audio records, and film) in one central place and to make them accessible to users (currently more than 4,000 meters of shelf space).The collection focuses on the personal papers of outstanding personalities who conducted research at either the Kaiser Wilhelm Society or the Max Planck Society. These include Nobel laureates Carl Bosch, Walther Bothe, Adolf Butenandt, Paul J. Crutzen, Peter Debye, Gerhard Ertl, Fritz Haber, Otto Hahn, Werner Heisenberg, Georges Köhler, Richard Kuhn, Max von Laue, Feodor Lynen, Ernst Ruska, Bert Sakmann and Otto Warburg, supplemented by collections on Albert Einstein, Fritz Haber and Max Planck, among others. In addition, the library of the Archives contains scholarly literature on the twentieth-century history of science (40,100 volumes, 150 subscriptions to journals, literature without clearly identifiable authors, 200,000 special editions). Archive

The Secretary General The Secretary General is responsible for managing Administrative Headquarters and bears responsibility for budgetary matters and daily business. She is responsible for the organization, structure and legal matters of Administrative Headquarters and also runs her own domain with strategic topics. This comprises the following departments: Institutes, Communication, Science Policy / Strategic Processes, Research Policy / External Relationships as well as the Internal Audit Department. Together with the Executive Committee whose meetings she attends in an advisory capacity, she forms the Management Board of the Max Planck Society (MPG). By virtue of her office, the Secretary General is at the same time a member of the Management Board of the charitable Max Planck Foundation (MPF) which supports the MPG through targeted fund-raising and finances groundbreaking research projects in the MPG from private funds. The Boards of Trustees of Max Planck Institutes (MPI) are also considered to be a special priority of the Secretary General in her efforts to increase the impact and reach of specific research topics in the public domain.  Governing Bodies Administrative Headquarters Administrative Headquarters manages the day-to-day operation of the MPG. It is based at the Max Planck House in Munich’s Hofgarten. The offices of the President and Vice President are housed in the same building. The Secretary General is in charge of Administrative Headquarters.The 65​0 or so employees who work in Administrative Headquarters advise and support the bodies, research facilities, and Institutes of the Max Planck Society (the MPG). They pave the way for making and implementing decisions, ensure suitable framework conditions for the development of the Institutes and help them perform their administrative tasks. In short: through its work, Administrative Headquarters provides the Max Planck Institutes with the scope they need to conduct excellent research. It also coordinates the work of ensuring compliance with the requirements imposed by federal and state governments as the MPG’s main sponsors. Hence it forms a vital link between our research activities and funding agencies, and so is key to the MPG’s success. The annual budget of the Max Planck Society is around 1.8 billion euros. This opens up a wide range of creative possibilities, and also means we have a great responsibility towards the public.Supervision of Administrative Headquarters is exercised by the Executive Committee of the MPG through its President. Administrative Headquarters