The Board of Trustees consists of eleven members appointed by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) for a term of four years. According to the DGIA Act, the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft has the right to appoint four scientists, and the Alexander von Humboldt Stiftung, the Max-Planck-Gesellschaft and the Leibniz-Gemeinschaft each have the right to appoint one scientist. The Stifterverband nominates a person closely associated with the humanities. The meetings of the Board of Trustees are each attended by two members of the Assembly of Directors and the Assembly of Advisory Board Chairs, the Executive Director and the respective representatives of the staff and scientific employees as permanent guests with the right to propose motions and speak. The members are currently:

Member

• President:
  Prof. Dr. Hans van Ess, MWS
• Deputy Chair:
  Prof. Dr. Elke Seefried, RWTH Aachen
• Prof. Dr. Ravi Ahuja, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen
• Prof. Dr. Judit Árokay, Universität Heidelberg
• Dr. Enno Aufderheide, Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung
• Vito Cecere, Auswärtiges Amt
• N. N., Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung
• Prof. Dr. Martin Kintzinger, Universität Münster
• Prof. Dr. Tanja Michalsky, Bibliotheca Hertziana, MPI für Kunstgeschichte
• Prof. Dr. Judith Pfeiffer, Universität Bonn
• Prof. Dr. Kim Siebenhüner, Universität Jena