Appointment to national and international
functions, committees, expert groups

since 2021
since 2021 Chair of the working group "Global Orientation Framework" of the Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)
since 2021 Director of the network NEH21: New European Humanities in the 21st Century

since 2011
since 2020 Member of the Executive Committee of ENLIGHT; Project Manager ENLIGHT Göttingen
since 2018 Head of the “Regional Research Team Europe”, for the preparation of the World Humanities Report in cooperation with UNESCO-CIPSH
2018 - 2020 Member of the Ad-hoc Expert Group “European Universities”, EU Commission, Brussels
since 2018 Chair of the Working Group “China Competence in Lower Saxony” of the Lower Saxony Ministry of Science and Culture
since 2018 Member of the Steering Committee “Global Education”, British Council, London
since 2016 Member of the Board of the German Academic Exchange Service, Bonn (reelected for 4 years in 2019)
2015 - 2021 Member of the “Language Advisory Board” of the Goethe-Institut, Munich
since 2015 Member of the Advisory Board of the “Society for Intercultural German Studies”, Bayreuth
since 2014 Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Academic Confucius Institute, Göttingen/Nanjing/Beijing
2014 – 2016 Member of the Executive Board of COIMBRA Group, Brussels
since 2014 German chair of the Working Group on Intercultural German Studies in China, Beijing
2014 Chair of the Expert Group for the Development of a China Strategy of the BMBF, Berlin
since 2013 Member of the Board of Directors of the U4 Network, Ghent, Groningen, Uppsala, Göttingen
2012 – 2015 Member of the Executive Board of HERA-Board (Humanities in the European Research Area), Brussels
2012 Advisor to the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research for Horizon 2020 in the Humanities and Social Sciences, Berlin

2004 - 2010
2008 – 2010 Member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the International Research and Junior Research Network for Intercultural German Studies (IFNIG), Erfurt, Germany
2008 – 2010 Member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the University of Pune, India, for the restructuring of German Studies programs
2008 Advisor to the Federal Ministry of Education and Science in the context of the FP7 Roadmap, Berlin
2008 Reviewer for the Federal Ministry of Education and Science, Berlin
2005 – 2007 Consultant for the Ministry of the Interior and Sport and the Ministry of Science and Culture of the State of Lower Saxony for the Lower Saxony Integration Center Friedland, Hanover

1998 - 2003
2002 – 2009 Member of the “Advisory Board German as a Foreign Language”, Federal Office of Administration, Central Agency for German Schools Abroad
2001 – 2009 Chair of the Board of the nationwide “Fachverband Deutsch als Fremdsprache” (“Association of German as a Foreign Language”) (did not run for reelection)
1999 – 2004 Member of the Advisory Board “UNIcert” of the nationwide working group of language centers (AKS)
1999 – 2001 Member of the Board of Directors of the nationwide “Fachverband Deutsch als Fremdsprache” (“Association of German as a Foreign Language”)
1998 – 2004 Deputy member of the Standing Commission of the nationwide Working Group of Language Centers