Sybille Krämer has been a professor at the Institute of Philosophy, Freie Universität Berlin, since 1989. Her research interests include the theories of mind and consciousness as well as the philosophies of language, images, and writing. Krämer is active in several research networks of Freie Universität. She is the spokesperson for the Research Training Group “Notational Iconicity: On the Materiality, Perceptibility, and Operativity of Writing” and a project leader in the Excellence Cluster TOPOI. She has held visiting professorships in Zurich, Lucerne, Vienna, and Graz. From 2000 to 2006 she was a member of the German Science Council and from 2006 to 2008 a permanent fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study in Berlin. Since 2007, Krämer has been a member of the Scientific Panel of the European Research Council, the highest research institution of the European Union.

Since 2008 Heike Solga has been a professor at the Institute of Sociology, Freie Universität Berlin, focusing on work, the job market, and employment. At the Social Science Research Center Berlin (WZB), she is the director of the Research Unit: Skill Formation and Labor Markets. Previously, she headed the Sociological Research Institute (SOFI) at Georg-August-Universität in Göttingen. She has also held positions at the University of Leipzig and the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin. At the DFG Solga is a member of the Senate Committee on Research Training Groups. She belongs to the consortium that carries out the National Education Panel and the project advisory board of the German Federal Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs for the European Year for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion (2010). She is also a member of numerous other advisory boards, for example, at the German Federal Institute for Vocational Training (BIBB), the German Institute for Employment Research (IAB), and the Danish National Centre for Social Research (SFI) in Copenhagen.

Of the six Senate seats up for election, three were intended for scholars from the humanities and social sciences and one each for a researcher from the fields of mathematics/science, engineering, and industry. The DFG Senate is composed of 39 members and is responsible for the science and research policy of the DFG. The Senate represents the interests and concerns of scientific and academic research. It promotes cooperation and advises governments, parliaments, and public authorities by issuing scientifically founded statements. The DFG sets priorities in research by establishing thematic Priority Programmes and Research Units.