Die Junge Akademie admitted ten new members at its annual celebration on the evening of May 25, 2019. For these outstanding scholars and artists the date marked the beginning of a five-year membership in the academy. The newly selected members come from a broad range of disciplines: biology/geography, history, Islamic studies, art history, mathematics, medicine, sociology, and linguistics/philology. The new members also include an architect and a performance artist. This year the academy itself conducted the selection. Chairmen of the selection commission Christoph Lundgreen was pleased to note that Die Junge Akademie is regarded as an important platform for academics and artists early in their careers. "The large number of worthy applications presented the commission with a proper challenge. We are uniformly delighted by our new members and look forward with anticipation to the new ideas and projects they will enrich us with," Lundgreen said. The next selection in the coming year will again be held by the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities and the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina.

"We especially look forward to working together with our new members next year. The academy turns 20 in 2020 – something we wish to celebrate in an intensive dialogue on science and research with as many people as possible," said Philipp Kanske, who took over the position of the Speaker of Die Junge Akademie the day after the annual celebration. This year’s celebration focused on the topic of "impact". Filmmaker Anna Henckel-Donnersmarck led the audience through the evening, which was designed as a talk show.

In the coming five years the new members may organize themselves together with the 40 other members in working groups on topics including "Cultures of Debate", "Science Policy", and "Art as Research", working as part of an interdisciplinary team on diverse projects and research questions. Die Junge Akademie’s objective is to give young scholars and artists the opportunity to become creatively active at the interface between academics and society in addition to their current research. Membership in the academy requires an outstanding doctoral dissertation that, at the time of selection, should not be older than three to seven years, in addition to at least one other outstanding piece of work.

Our ten new members

• Bettina Bock | Germanic Linguistics/Language Didactics | Cologne University, Institut für deutsche Sprache und Literatur II

• Stefanie Büchner | Sociology | Leibniz University Hannover, Institut für Soziologie

• Anna Cord | Biology/Geography | Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research – UFZ, Department of Landscape Ecology

• Timo de Wolff | Mathematics | Technische Universität Braunschweig, Institute for Analysis and Algebra

• Isabelle Dolezalek | History of Art | Technische Universität Berlin, Institute for Art History

• Benedict Esche | Architecture | Munich

• Simon Wolfgang Fuchs | Islamic studies | University of Freiburg, Orientalisches Seminar

• Valeska Huber | History | Freie Universität Berlin, Friedrich-Meinecke-Institut

• Roman Lemberg | Musical theatre / dramaturgy / performance | Berlin

• Isabel Nahal Schellinger | Medicine | Universitätsklinikum Leipzig, Medizinische Klinik und Poliklinik III - Endocrinology, Nephrology, Rheumatology