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Der Wissenschaftliche Beirat

Source: BMDV

The Board of Academic Advisers to the Federal Minister of Digital and Transport was established as a panel of independent experts as early as 1949 in order to advise the then Federal Minister of Transport on the preparation and performance of his functions and to contribute to making scientific findings available for use both in transport policy and technical work.

The focus of the Board’s activities is on the transport sector. Digitalization has been within the sphere of responsibility of the Federal Ministry of Digital and Transport and its executive agencies since 2013. It poses new challenges for transport policymakers and is playing an increasingly important role, which is a topic also addressed by the academic advisers. Topical questions on further cross-cutting issues, e.g. energy and environment, also inform the scientists’ assessment for a modern transport policy.

Contact details of the Board of Academic Advisers

Secretariat at the Federal Ministry of Digital and Transport:

Ursula Clever

Federal Ministry of Digital and Transport
Division G 12
Robert-Schuman-Platz 1
53175 Bonn
Tel.: +49 (0) 228 300 2436
Fax: +49 (0) 228 300 807 2436
E-Mail: Wiss-Beirat@bmdv.bund.de

Members

The members of the Board are academics and qualified experts with special experience in all relevant fields for which the Federal Minister of Digital and Transport is responsible.

The interdisciplinary composition of the Board takes account of the various economic, technical and socio-political aspects of work in the fields of transport policy and transport science as well as of the associated cross-cutting issues.

The appointed members of the Board of Academic Advisers work as unpaid volunteers. Members are appointed by the Federal Minister of Digital and Transport based on proposals made by the Board. Currently, the Board consists of 19 members.

Sitzung des Wissenschaftlichen Beirats

Source: Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Winner

Tasks

The task of the Board is to provide advice to the Federal Minister for Digital and Transport and the Ministry and to do so in full independence. The Board itself decides on the subjects of its advisory activities. It deals with issues it considers to be particularly topical and important in terms of transport policy or with issues put forward by the Federal Minister.

The tasks of the Board of Academic Advisers consist of three main fields of work:

  • general expert statements on key issues of transport policy as well as associated cross-cutting issues;
  • opinions on current transport policy issues;
  • direct advice to the Minister and senior civil servants of the Ministry.

Continuous exchange of academic views

Regular meetings of the Board’s members at different venues enable a continuous exchange of academic views on general and current transport policy issues. Frequent contacts with senior officials from the Ministry ensure that there is a continuous flow of information from transport policy to transport science and vice versa. Thus, the Board is an integral component of the decision-making process in transport policy.

In the context of a yearly excursion, the Board engages in a scientific exchange with foreign universities, transport policy representatives and transport operators.

 Visit by the Board of Academic Advisers, chaired by Prof. Hartmut Fricke, to Sir Tim Clark, president of Emirates Airline, in Dubai 2019
Visit by the Board of Academic Advisers, chaired by Prof. Hartmut Fricke, to Sir Tim Clark, president of Emirates Airline, in Dubai 2019

Source: Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Winner

Exchange of the Scientific Advisory Board with Dr. Ing. Zeno D'Agostino, President of Port System Authority of the Eastern Adriatic Sea
The Advisory Council in exchange with Dr. Ing. Zeno D'Agostino, President of the port of Trieste

Source: Prof. Dr. rer.nat. Winner

Expert statements and opinions of the Board

The Board of Academic Advisers informs the Federal Ministry of Digital and Transport about the findings of its discussions in the form of expert statements.

It is consistent with the Board’s status of independence that its statements only represent the opinion of the Board and its members and not the opinion of the Ministry.

In recent years, the Board of Academic Advisers has drawn up a considerable number of opinions, which are regularly published.