From 1982 to 1988, Dr. Ursula Diefenbach studied chemistry at Freie Universität Berlin. In 1990, she earned her doctorate from Freie Universität, before gaining her university teaching qualification (Habilitation) in inorganic chemistry in 1998 from Freie Universität. She has been head of the Research & Technology House at Graz University of Technology since 2004.

Between 1979 and 1985, Professor Wolfgang E. Ernst worked as a university assistant at the Department of Physics at Freie Universität Berlin. In 1983, he gained his university teaching qualification (Habilitation) from Freie Universität, before conducting research as a Heisenberg Fellow (until 1989), also at Freie Universität. He has been a professor at the Institute of Experimental Physics at Graz University of Technology since 2002.