The Falling Walls Conference is an annual science event in Berlin, Germany, that coincides with the anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall (November 9, 1989). The one-day scientific conference showcases the research work of international scientists from a wide range of fields.
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The Falling Walls Foundation
After the inaugural 2009 conference organized by the Einstein Foundation, an independent non-profit institution by the name of the Falling Walls Foundation was established through the support of the German Ministry of Education and Research and the Berlin Senator for Education, Science and Research. The foundation is managed by Tatjana König. She is supported by Prof. Sebastian Turner, a Berlin entrepreneur and publisher of the Tagesspiegel, who serves at the board of trustees of the foundation.
Conference Format
Every speaker presents a talk of maximum 15 minutes, explaining how their scientific research helps to break down walls in science and society.
Board of Trustees
Jürgen Mlynek (Chairman) - Former President, Professor, Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres, Berlin, Germany
Andreas Barner - President of the Stifterverband für die Deutsche Wissenschaft
Carl-Henrik Heldin - Chairman of the Board of the Nobel Foundation, Vice-President of the European Research Council
Wolf Lepenies - Rector emeritus Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin, Institute for Advanced Study
Helga Nowotny - Professor emerita of Social Studies of Science, Former President European Research Council (ERC)
Kõji Omi - Founder and Chairman, The Science and Technology in Society (STS) forum, Kyoto
Ernst Th. Rietschel - Former Chairman of the Board, Berlin Institute of Health, President emeritus Leibniz Association
Sebastian Turner - Publisher of the Tagesspiegel and Founder of the Falling Walls Foundation
Ingrid Wünning Tschol - Senior Vice President Strategy, Robert Bosch Stiftung
Otmar D. Wiestler, President, Helmholtz Association
Speakers 2016
Quarraisha Abdool Karim, CAPRISA, Durban
Kevin Bales, University of Nottingham
Françoise Baylis, Dalhousie University, Halifax
Nili Cohen, Israel Academy of Science and Humanities, Jerusalem
Tumani Corrah, Africa Research Excellence Fund
Gregory Ralph Crane, Leipzig University
Sadie Creese, University of Oxford
Karsten Danzmann, Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics
Jack Gallant, University of California, Berkeley
Neil Gershenfeld, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Rob Knight, University of California, San Diego
Lim Chuan Poh, A*STAR, Singapore
Randolph Nesse, Arizona State University
Peter Neumann, King’s College London
Hélène Rey, London Business School
Katherine Richardson, University of Copenhagen
Salah Sukkarieh, University of Sydney
Birgitta Whaley, University of California, Berkeley
Eyal Weizman, Goldsmiths, University of London
Otmar D. Wiestler, Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres, Berlin
Speakers 2015
Andrea Accomazzo, European Space Agency, Germany
June Andrews, University of Stirling, UK
Bruce A. Beutler, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, USA
Emmanuelle Charpentier, Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology, Germany
Ottmar Edenhofer, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Germany
Nilüfer Göle, École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, France
Demis Hassabis, Google DeepMind, London, UK
Dirk Helbing, ETH Zurich, Switzerland
Arjen Hoekstra, University of Twente, The Netherlands
Naila Kabeer, London School of Economics and Political Science, UK
Wolfgang Ketterle, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA
Nina Kraus, Northwestern University, USA
Joanne Liu, Médecins Sans Frontières, Switzerland
Sharon Macdonald, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Germany
Saskia Sassen, Columbia University, New York, USA
Brian Schmidt, Australian National University
Jackie Yi-Ru Ying, Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, Singapore
Jean-Pierre Bourguignon, President, European Research Council (Session Host)
Rush D. Holt, CEO, American Association for the Advancement of Science (Session Host)
Rolf Tarrach, President, European University Association (Session Host)
Johanna Wanka, German Federal Minister of Education and Research (Official Opening)
Nurit Yirmiya, Chief Scientist, Israeli Ministry of Science, Technology and Space (Session Host)
Speakers 2014
Adah Almutairi, Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences UC San Diego, USA
David Chipperfield, David Chipperfield Architects
Joseph F. Coughlin, MIT AgeLab, USA
Karl Deisseroth, Stanford University, USA
Roland Fletcher, University of Sydney, Australia
Stefan Hell, Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, Germany
Lisa Kaltenegger, Cornell University, USA
Christof Koch, Allen Institute for Brain Science, USA
Nathan S. Lewis, California Institute of Technology, USA
Mariana Mazzucato, University of Sussex, UK
Alina Mungiu-Pippidi, Hertie School of Governance, Germany
Svante Pääbo, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Germany
Alan Rusbridger, Former Editor-in-Chief of The Guardian, UK
Suchitra Sebastian, University of Cambridge, UK
Zahava Solomon, Tel-Aviv University, Israel
Suzanne L. Topalian, Johns Hopkins Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, USA
Thierry Zomahoun, African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS), South Africa
Anton Zeilinger, University of Vienna, Austria
Diane Griffin, Vice-President of the United States National Academy of Sciences (Session Host)
Angela Merkel, Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany (Official Opening)
Sir Paul Nurse, President of the Royal Society, UK (Session Host)
Rupert Stadler, CEO, AUDI AG, Germany (Dinner speech)
Philippe Taquet, President of the French Academy of Sciences (Session Host)
Lev Zelenyi, Vice President of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Session Host)
Speakers 2013
Jagdish N. Bhagwati, Columbia University, USA
Olafur Eliasson, Artist
Jill Farrant, University of Cape Town, South Africa
Elvira Fortunato, Cenimat/i3N / Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Portugal
Stephen Friend, President Sage Bionetworks, USA
Anita Goel, CEO Nanobiosym, USA
Rolf-Dieter Heuer, CERN, Switzerland
Jules A. Hoffmann, Université de Strasbourg, France
Robert P. Kirshner, Harvard University, USA
Karlheinz Meier, University of Heidelberg, Germany
Daniel G. Nocera, Harvard University, USA
Onora O'Neill, Baroness O'Neill of Bengarve, University of Cambridge, UK
Mark Pagel, University of Reading, UK
Michael M. Resch, HLRS Stuttgart, Germany
Michal Schwartz, Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel
Dan Shechtman, Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, Israel
Salil Shetty, Secretary General Amnesty International, UK
Luc Steels, Universitat Pompeu Fabra Barcelona, Spain
Sophia Vinogradov, University of California, San Francisco, USA
Ai Weiwei, Artist
Lav R. Varshney (Festive Dinner), IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center, USA
Speakers 2012
Yanis Ben Amor, Earth Institute, Columbia University
David Awschalom, University of California, Santa Barbara
Monique Breteler, Harvard School of Public Health in Boston
Michael Bruter, London School of Economics
Philip Campbell, Nature Publishing Group
Awa Marie Coll-Seck, Senegal's Health Minister
David Harel, The Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel
Peter Herzig, GEOMAR | Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research, Kiel
Reinhard F. Hüttl, acatech
Aaron Kaplan, Funkfeuer FREE NET, Vienna
Michel D. Kazatchkine, UN Special Envoy for HIV/Aids in Eastern Europe and Central Asia
Alan I. Leshner, AAAS and Science
Daniel Libeskind, Architect
Rachael McDermott, Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics, Garching
Jürgen Mlynek, Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres, Berlin
Per Møller, University of Copenhagen
Helga Nowotny, European Research Council (ERC), Vienna
Govindan Parayil, United Nations University
Nicola Pugno, University of Trento, Italy
Tomás Saraceno, Artist
Annette Schavan, German Federal Minister of Education and Research
Ina Schieferdecker, Fraunhofer FOKUS, Berlin
Stefan Treue, Director of the German Primate Center - Leibniz Institute for Primate Research
Hal Varian, Google Inc.
Daniel Zajfman, Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel
Speakers 2011
Anastasia Ailamaki, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
Nick Barton, Institute of Science and Technology, Austria
Rebecca Cassidy, Goldsmiths, University of London
Paul Chirik, Princeton University
Aaron Ciechanover, Technion
Robert Darnton, Harvard University
Ingrid Daubechies, Duke University
Robert E. Horn, Stanford University
Wang Hui, Tsinghua University, Beijing
Reinhard F. Hüttl, acatech
Mary Kaldor, London School of Economics
Matthias Kleiner, DFG German Research Foundation
Ferenc Krausz, Max Planck Institute for Quantum Optics Munich
Jean-Luc Lehners, Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics (Albert Einstein Institute)
Alejandro Litovsky, the Earth Security Initiative
Angela Merkel, Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany
Jürgen Mlynek, Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres, Berlin
Helga Nowotny, European Research Council (ERC), Vienna
Liu Olin, China International Capital Corporation Limited (CICC)
Kõji Omi, The Science and Technology in Society (STS) forum Kyoto
Annette Schavan, German Federal Minister of Education and Research
Robert Schlögl, Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society
Dennis J. Snower, the Kiel Institute for the World Economy
Cédric Villani, Université de Lyon
Stewart Wallis, nef (the new economics foundation), London
Waceke Wanjohi, School of Agriculture and Enterprise Development, Kenyatta University, Nairobi
Elke U. Weber, Earth Institute, Columbia Business School, Columbia University, New York
Speakers 2010
Dalton Conley, Sociologist
Frederick Cooper, Historian
Helmut Dosch, Physicist
Olafur Eliasson, Artist
Doug Guthrie, Dean of The George Washington University School of Business
Yael Hanein, Neuroscientist
Olga Holtz, Mathematician
Wolfgang Holzgreve, Gynaecologist
Reinhard Hüttl, President at acatech
Ichiro Inasaki, Professor at Chubu University
Joachim Knebel, Chief Science Officer at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)
Sabine Kunst, President of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD)
Thomas Lengauer, Director at the Max Planck Institute for Informatics
Yves Leterme, Prime Minister of Belgium
Julie Livingston, Historian
Karl Ulrich Mayer, President of the Leibniz Association
Jürgen Mlynek, President of the Helmholtz Association
Christoph Möllers, Professor of Law at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
Manfred Prenzel, Dean of the TUM School of Education, Technische Universität München
Cornelia Quennet-Thielen, State Secretary at the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research
Shalini Randeria, University Professor, Universität Zürich
Annette Schavan, Professor, German Federal Minister of Education and Research
Sabine Schmidtke, Professor, Center for Advanced Judaic Studies, University of Pennsylvania
Tania Singer, Director at the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences
Eckhard Thiel, Professor of Hematology and Oncology, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin
Daniël Vanmaekelbergh, Professor, Universiteit Utrecht
Katja Windt, Professor, Jacobs University
Christian Wulff, President of Germany
Speakers 2009
Jutta Allmendinger (German)
Alain Aspect
Jean-Michel Borys
Michel Brunet
Dipesh Chakrabarty
Matthias Driess
Wolfgang Eberhardt
Detlef Günther
John-Dylan Haynes
Rolf-Dieter Heuer
Norbert Holtkamp
Harold James (historian)
Stefan H. Kaufmann
Gerhard Knies
Wilhelm Krull
Angela Merkel
Jürgen Mlynek
Richard Morris (neuroscientist)
Glenn Warren Most
Klaus Robert Müller
Amélie Mummendey
Miguel Nicolelis
Stephanie Reich
Ina Schieferdecker
Martin E. Schwab
Peter Seeberger
Tricia Striano
Franz-Josef Ulm
Wendelin Werner
Thomas Wiegand
Muhammad Yunus