The Academic Advisory Board advises the Board of Trustees, the Institute Director and the GEI's research fellows. The Board consists of members from universities from both Germany and abroad as well as members of research facilities. Members normally meet once a year in order to discuss new projects and questions of principle regarding the Institute’s academic work. The members of the Academic Advisory Board are:

• Prof. Dr. Bettina Dennerlein, University of Zürich, Institute for Oriental  Studies
• Peter Gautschi, University of Applied Sciences Northwest Switzerland/College of Education, Aarau/Switzerland
• Prof. Dr. Viola B. Georgi, Free University of Berlin, Department of Educational Science und Psychology
• Prof. Dr. Gudrun Gersmann (Academic Advisory Committee Deputy Chairwoman), Director of the German Historical Institute Paris
• Prof. Dr. Michael Geyer, University of Chicago, Department of History
• Prof. Dr. Reinhard Krammer, University of Salzburg, Department of History and Political Science
• Prof. Dr. Hermann Kreutzmann, Free University of Berlin, Head of the Centre for Development Studies (ZELF), Institute for Geographical Sciences
• Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Sander, University of Gießen, Department of Social and Cultural Sciences
• Prof. Dr. Martin Schulze Wessel, University of Munich, Department for East and South European History
• Prof. Dr. Yasemin Soysal, University of Essex, Department of Sociology
• Prof. Dr. Maria Todorova, University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign, History Department
• Dr. Ute Wardenga (Academic Advisory Committee Chairwoman), Deputy Director of the Leibniz Institute for Regional Geography/Leipzig