The association’s executive committee consists of eight vice-presidents, the president, Professor Jürgen Mlynek, and the managing director Dr Rolf Zettl. A full-time president heads the Helmholtz Association and represents it externally. He takes on a leading role in the dialogue between science, industry and politics. He is responsible for preparing and implementing the senate’s recommendations on programme-oriented funding. He coordinates the development of programmes for the research fields, the cross-centre controlling system, and the development of the association’s general strategy. The vice-presidents advise, represent and assist the president in performing his duties, which include implementing programme-oriented funding, coordinating programme development across all the research fields and developing an overarching strategy. Each of the vice-presidents serves as the coordinator of one of the six research fields at the Helmholtz Association. The executive committee also includes two administrative vice-presidents. The Managing Director of the Helmholtz Association supports, advises and represents the President in the performance of his duties and manages the Association’s head offices in Berlin and Bonn with their branches in Brussels, Moscow and Beijing. As a special representative on administrative matters, the Managing Director represents the Helmholtz Association both internally and externally. Along with the President and the Vice-Presidents, the Managing Director is a member of the Executive Committee of the Helmholtz Association. In setting research priorities and ensuring that funding is awarded on a competitive basis, the Senate, which consists of external representatives, and the Senate commissions perform an important function at the Helmholtz Association. The Senate commissions are made up of permanent representatives and alternating members (depending on the specific research field under discussion).