The association’s statutes form the basis of all its activities. The Helmholtz Association is directed by a full-time president who coordinates programme-oriented funding. Together with the Helmholtz centres, the president develops the association’s overarching strategy and implements it both internally and externally.
The association’s central bodies are the Members' Assembly, formed by internal staff, and the Senate, made up of external representatives. Specifically, the Members’ Assembly consists of the directors of the Helmholtz Association’s member centres, while the Senate comprises representatives of the federal government, the federal states, the scientific community, industry and other research organisations. The Senate requests independent, internationally acclaimed experts to evaluate its research programmes and reviews their findings. On the basis of their assessments, the Senate makes recommendations to the funding bodies (the federal government and federal states) as to the amount of funding for the various research programmes and research topics. The Senate commissions lay the groundwork for the Senate’s resolutions relating to the area of “Evaluation and Programme-Oriented Funding”.
The staff of the Helmholtz offices in Berlin and Bonn support the president in performing his duties for the association’s members. The office in Brussels provides the Helmholtz Association with a presence at the heart of the European Union. Together with the Helmholtz offices in Moscow and Peking, the Brussels office ensures that the association’s research centres can make a stronger contribution to European and international research projects.