Head of SILBERSALZ Advisory Board

Prof. Dr. Antje Boetius

Director of the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) / Scientific Director of the SILBERSALZ Festival

Prof. Dr. Antje Boetius is Director of the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Center of Marine and Polar Research; Germany’s national polar research center. She is a deep-sea and polar researcher and an expert of marine biogeochemistry, biological oceanography, deep-sea biology and marine microbial ecology. Her research focuses on the Changing Arctic ecosystem and on extreme habitats of the oceans.

She has participated in almost 50 expeditions on international research vessels and is currently focusing on issues of climate change impacts on the biogeochemistry and biodiversity of the Arctic Ocean.

Antje Boetius has been awarded with the Medaille de la Societe d’Oceanographie de France, the Gottfried-Wilhelm-Leibniz Prize of the German Science Foundation, the Advanced Grant of the European Research Council, among many other honors. She is a member of the German National Academy Leopoldina (Section Geology), and of two European academies, as well as an elected Fellow of the American Geophysical Union and of the American Academy of Microbiology. She supports the strategic development of Wissenschaft im Dialog (WiD, "Science in Dialogue"), an initiative of the major German scientific associations, where she has been head of the steering committee since 2014. As a nonprofit organization, WiD promotes discussion and exchange about research in Germany.

Members

Prof. Peter Arens

Head of the Department – TV-show „History and Science“, ZDF

Prof. Peter Arens, born 1961, is head of the department „History and Science“ in ZDF, which includes brands like Terra X, Leschs Kosmos, ZDF History, nano, Scobel and 37°. He was responsable for documentary series like „2057 – Living in the Future“ (2007), „The Germans“ (2008 und 2010), „Saga of Europe“ (2017) or „Journey of mankind“ (2019) about the history of migration. He has published several books, such as about the German Migration (2002) and the Middle Ages (2004). Since 2008 he is leading the degree programm TV Journalism at the Film Academy of Baden Württemberg in Ludwigsburg.

Steve Burns

Founder | EP, Roller Coaster Road Productions

Steve Burns rejoined Roller Coaster Road Productions as EP at the company he founded in 2011. Burns recently retired as Chief Content Officer for CuriosityStream, a 5-year-old factual SVOD, pay and liner service, now available in 13-million homes worldwide. He continues as Special Advisor to CuriosityStream.

His career spans more than 25 years from National Geographic cinematographer/ producer to EVP of Production and Chief Science Editor for Discovery Networks, including GM of Science Channel, returning to National Geographic as Executive Vice President of Global Content for NGC worldwide.  Before CuriosityStream, Burns was a freelance Executive Producer for WNET/ NY's long-running Secrets of the Dead series for PBS, the Public Broadcast System in the U.S.

He has won multiple industry awards, including two Emmys for 5 Years on Mars and Spirit of the Rainforest. His teams have been nominated for two Academy Awards, won two Peabody Awards and well over 200 Emmy nominations, including dozens of wins, most recently Stephen Hawking’s Favorite Places in 2017.

Mohamed Soliman Daoud

Science Communication & Development Officer I The American University in Cairo, Egypt
Mohamed Daoud has a decade of work experience in the field of science communication and engagement and is considered as one of the pioneers in the field in Egypt.  He is currently managing the Funlab, where he works on numerous community-led projects to break the wall between science and society. The projects are geared toward underprivileged, minorities, indigenous communities, and refugees to spark their curiosity to encourage more students to adopt science and technology career in the future. Mohamed achieved his master’s degree in science communication from the University of Manchester in 2018 through the prestigious UK Government Chevening Scholarship. His work has recently recognized to be one of the winners of Falling Walls Engage Breakthrough of the Year 2020.

Cedric Engels

Producer | Host | Consultant

Cedric Engels produces videos about science, technology and future topics published on his YouTube-Channel Doktor Whatson. With Twentytwo Film he is building his own production company in Cologne and works or customers as ZDF or the Federal Ministry of Education and Research.

Dr. Erez S. Garty

Head of Science Communications, Weizman Instiute of Science
Erez has a PhD in Immunology from the Weizmann Institute of Science, and is head of the department for Science Communication at the Davidson Institute of Science Education. Erez has been communicating science since 2007 in the academy, in public outreach and in the national media.
He is one of the organizers of the national science communications conference, the national Darwin day celebrations and various outreach activities.
In addition he is a middle school science teacher for gifted children, he is married to Belky, a father of exceptionally smart kids and a crusader in the war against ignorance and science denial.

Ann-Christin Hornberger

Commissioning Editor, Science and Knowledge, ZDF / ARTE

Ann-Christin Hornberger is a Germanist and PR-commissioner. She has been working for the German broadcaster ZDF since 1992. In past years and as one of the first ARTE-commissioners she works for several ARTE slots like travelling formats Entdeckung and Wunderwelten, Zu Tisch and Wissenschaft. The science slot is about 52’ long and broadcasted on Saturday evening. And last but not least, her commissions include a plethora of award-winning science documentaries.

Dr. Patrick Hörl

Founder I General Manager, AUTENTIC

Dr. Patrick Hörl is the founder and Managing Director of the factual entertainment label Autentic GmbH. The company produces and distributes high quality factual shows and series for audiences around the world. Furthermore Hörl is MD of the two factual pay-tv channels Spiegel Geschichte and Spiegel TV Wissen, a joint venture between Autentic and Spiegel TV. Hörl is one of the founders of Vereins Documentary Campus e.V. and serves Chairman of the Board of Campus a pan-european advanced training programme for young filmmakers/aspirants in the fields of documentary film and factual entertainment. Additionally Hörl is member of the Board of Directors of the factual section of Produzentenallianz and of the Board of the World of Congress of Science and Factual Producers.

Patrick Klügel

Public Engagement Manager I Cyber Valley Initiative
Patrick Klügel is Public Engagement Manager at the Cyber Valley Initiative - Europe’s largest research cooperation in the field of artificial intelligence (AI). He develops interactive activities for scientists to proactively engage with citizens, politicians and civil society. After finishing his studies in German Literature at the University of Tübingen, he worked at the Robert Bosch Foundation. He initiated various projects at the interface between science and society. Patrick Klügel is a jury member of the Helmholtz Knowledge Transfer Program and founding member of the ArtinAI Association

Walter Köhler

CEO, Terra Mater Factual Studios GmbH

Walter Köhler – Producer, Founder & CEO – launched his production company Terra Mater Factual Studios in 2011. Since then, he has gained international recognition with more than 230 film awards, including an Emmy Award, several Panda Awards at Wildscreen, and Grand Teton Awards at the Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival. Köhler’s last industry coup was for his film, The Ivory Game, to be recognized on the Academy Award Best Documentary Feature Shortlist. His latest festival coup was the world premiere of Sea of Shadow at Sundance Festival in January 2019.

Ivvet Modinou

Director, Outreach, Education & Engagement I Simons Foundation
Ivvet Modinou has been working in public engagement with science for nearly two decades. In her current role as Director of Outreach, Education & Engagement she leads public engagement for the Simons Foundation, including strategic oversight of Science Sandbox, a flagship grant-making program that seeks to inspire and engage those who do not identify as science enthusiasts.

Previously, at the British Science Association, she was the Head of Engagement overseeing their public programmes, including the British Science Festival and building their national community engagement portfolio. She also led the UK Science Festivals Network; a community of practice of over 40 independent science festivals across the country.

She spent 10 years working at the Natural History Museum, leading the development and implementation of the Museum’s science communication programme.

Ivvet has an MSc in Science Communication from Imperial College London, and she has developed and delivered science communication training for researchers around the world. She has also been a reporter for the BBC World Service and a sub-editor at The Times. In her spare time, she has co-founded music discovery website richseam.com

Louis Savy

Founder I Festival Director, SCI-FI-LONDON

Louis Savy is the founder and festival director of the London Festival of Science Fiction and Fantastic Film, better known as SCI-FI-London. Louis champions creators to blend science fact and fiction for both entertainment and education, seeing the medium of film as a simple and accessible way to put across hard scientific concepts and look at possible outcomes from new developments. He has produced several films and also runs a major filmmaking competition as part of the festival, tasking people to create original science fiction films in just a weekend.

Caroline Wichmann

Head of Department Press and Public Relations, Leopoldina - German National Academy of Sciences

Caroline Wichmann is the spokesperson and Director of the Department of Press and Public Relations at the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina. She has been active in science management and science communication for more than 20 years. After graduating in public administration, political science, and cultural affairs management she worked on numerous French-German cultural exchange projects and most recently as the spokesperson for the „Wissenschaft im Dialog“ Initiative (Science in Dialogue). In 2011 and 2015 Caroline Wichmann was elected German Science Press Spokesperson of the Year.