Eva Cancik-Kirschbaum, born in 1965 and a professor of Assyriology (languages and history of the Ancient Near East) at Freie Universität Berlin since 2003, was elected an ordinary member of the humanities class of the Academy. Her research focuses on the ancient Near East between the 4th century B.C. and late antiquity, a very diverse cultural region of the ancient world. Besides her doctoral dissertation and various works on Assyria, she has published two edited volumes on the historical geography of Upper Mesopotamia and the cultures of knowledge in the East and West. She was, and continues to be, significantly involved in the conception, planning, and organization of the TOPOI Cluster of Excellence. She is a spokesperson for the Berlin Antike-Kolleg and is a member of the Zentrum Grundlagenforschung Alte Welt of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities.

Peter Seeberger, born in 1966, has been the director of the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces in Potsdam since 2009. He is also an adjunct professor at Freie Universität Berlin and the University of Potsdam. Since 2003 he has been an affiliate professor at the Stanford-Burnham Institute for Medical Research in La Jolla, USA. He was appointed an ordinary member of the life sciences class of the Academy. Seeberger's research focuses on carbohydrates. His pioneering basic research has revolutionized the whole field of complex sugars. His research has been recognized with numerous international awards, including the Karl Heinz Beckurts Award, an Advanced Grant from the European Research Council (2008) and, most recently, the Roy L. Whistler Award of the International Carbohydrate Organization (2012).