Uni­ver­si­ty Coun­cil

The Uni­ver­si­ty Coun­cil is com­po­sed of ex­ter­nal, vol­un­teer mem­bers from the fields of busi­ness, cul­tu­re, aca­de­mia, and po­li­tics.

Ac­ting as a bridge to so­cie­ty, the Uni­ver­si­ty Coun­cil sup­ports the HfMDK in its de­ve­lo­p­ment. To this end, it makes re­com­men­da­ti­ons on plan­ning, eva­lua­ti­on, and the agree­ment on ob­jec­ti­ves with the sta­te. Fur­ther­mo­re, it pro­vi­des in­put on the Pre­si­di­um­'s an­nu­al re­port, on tea­ching and re­se­arch pro­jects, and on the bud­get plan.

In ad­di­ti­on, the Uni­ver­si­ty Coun­cil may sub­mit pro­po­sals to the elec­to­ral as­sem­bly re­gar­ding the elec­tion of the Pre­si­dent. The term of of­fice for the Uni­ver­si­ty Coun­cil is two to four ye­ars. Mem­bers are ap­poin­ted by the Mi­nis­try in con­sul­ta­ti­on with the Se­na­te, upon the re­com­men­da­ti­on of the Pre­si­di­um.

Term of of­fice for the cur­rent Uni­ver­si­ty Coun­cil: May 1, 2023, th­rough April 30, 2027

N.N., Chair

Prof. Dr. Me­la­nie Wald-Fuhr­mann, Vice Chair

Me­la­nie Wald-Fuhr­mann has been Di­rec­tor of the Mu­sic De­part­ment at the Max Planck In­sti­tu­te for Em­pi­ri­cal Aes­the­tics in Frank­furt am Main sin­ce 2013. She pre­vious­ly ser­ved as Pro­fes­sor of So­cio­lo­gy of Mu­sic at Hum­boldt Uni­ver­si­ty and Pro­fes­sor of Mu­si­co­lo­gy at the Lü­beck Uni­ver­si­ty of Mu­sic.

Prof. Dr. An­dre­as Dor­schel

An­dre­as Dor­schel has been Pro­fes­sor of Aes­the­tics and Di­rec­tor of the In­sti­tu­te for Mu­sic Aes­the­tics at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Mu­sic and Per­forming Arts Graz sin­ce 2002. Af­ter ear­ning his doc­to­ra­te at Goe­the Uni­ver­si­ty Frank­furt and com­ple­ting his ha­bi­li­ta­ti­on in Bern, he taught at uni­ver­si­ties in Eng­land, Ger­ma­ny, and Switz­er­land.

Prof. Dr. Anne Fried­richs

Anne Fried­richs ser­ved as pre­si­dent of the Bo­chum Uni­ver­si­ty of He­alth Sci­en­ces from 2009 to 2019. She was a mem­ber of the Ger­man Sci­ence Coun­cil from 2009 to 2015.

Ger­not Grum­bach

Ger­not Grum­bach ser­ved as a mem­ber of the Hes­si­an Sta­te Par­lia­ment from 2003 to 2024, whe­re, among other ro­les, he was the sci­ence po­li­cy spo­kesper­son for the SPD par­lia­men­ta­ry group and a mem­ber of the Com­mit­tee on Sci­ence and the Arts.

Ma­ri­jke Hoo­gen­boom

Ma­ri­jke Hoo­gen­boom is a di­rec­tor at the Zu­rich Uni­ver­si­ty of the Arts (ZHdK). She heads the De­part­ment of Per­forming Arts and Film and over­sees the Re­se­arch Di­vi­si­on. Un­til 2019, she was a pro­fes­sor at the Ams­ter­dam Uni­ver­si­ty of the Arts and, among other ro­les, a co-foun­der of Das­Arts, the in­ter­di­sci­pli­na­ry mas­ter’s pro­gram in the per­forming arts, and the DAS Gra­dua­te School.

Jo­han­nes Koch

Jo­han­nes Koch has been a mem­ber of the Exe­cu­ti­ve Board of DZ Bank sin­ce 2024, whe­re his re­spon­si­bi­li­ties in­clude stra­tegy and cor­po­ra­te de­ve­lo­p­ment as well as sus­taina­bi­li­ty.

Mi­cha­el Traub

Mi­cha­el Traub in­iti­al­ly stu­di­ed school mu­sic with a ma­jor in pia­no and worked as a high school te­a­cher in Saar­brü­cken be­fo­re tur­ning to or­chestra ma­nage­ment. Sin­ce 2013, he has been the head of mu­sic at hr and the or­chestra ma­na­ger of the hr Sym­ph­o­ny Or­chestra.

Dr. Su­san­ne Völ­ker

Su­san­ne Völ­ker is an art his­to­ri­an, cul­tu­ral ma­na­ger, and cu­ra­tor; she ser­ved as the City of Kas­sel’s Di­rec­tor of Cul­tu­ral Af­fairs from 2017 to 2023. Sin­ce 2025, she has been the Exe­cu­ti­ve Di­rec­tor of the Kul­tur­fonds Frank­furt Rhein-Main.

Züh­al Ara­san (ad­vi­so­ry mem­ber)

Re­pre­sen­ta­ti­ve of the Hes­si­an Mi­nis­try of Sci­ence and Re­se­arch, Arts, and Cul­tu­re