The Institute's Board of Trustees consists of representatives of most German Federal States, the Foreign Ministry, the Ministry of Education and Science, the German Commission for UNESCO, and the Technical University Braunschweig.

It develops guidelines for the Institute's work, decides about the budget, and elects the director - for a period of at least five years. Professor Georg-Bernd Oschatz, former Director of the Bundesrat, currently chairs the Board of Trustees. The Vice Chairman is Mr. Christoph Stillemunkes.

Walter Hirche, former Minister, who is President of the German Commission for UNESCO. The Vice Chairman is Prof. Dr. Heinz-Werner Poelchau.

The following German Federal States are represented in the Board of Trustees:

• Brandenburg (Ms. Viola Mauve-Hönnicke)
• Bremen (Dr. Wolff Fleischer-Bickmann)
• Hamburg (Mr. Martin Speck)
• Hesse (Mr. Christoph Stillemunkes)
• Lower Saxony (Ms. Elisabeth Heister-Neumann)
• North-Rhine Westphalia (Prof. Heinz-Werner Poelchau)
• Rhineland-Palatinate (Mr. Herbert Tokarski)
• Saarland (Dr. Michael Ernst)
• Saxony (Mr. Thomas Rechentin)
• Saxony-Anhalt (Mr. Torsten Klieme)
• Schleswig-Holstein (Mr. Michael Tholund)
• Thuringia (Dr. Klaus Paffrath)

For the

• State of Lower Saxony: Prof. Georg-Berndt Oschatz,
  Prof. Rolf Wernstedt, Mr. Hans-Werner Schwarz and Ms. Dr. Gabriele Heinen-Kljajic
• Foreign Ministry: Mr. Stefan Krawielicki
• Ministry of Education and Research: Ms. Antje Scharsich
  
• German Commission for UNESCO : Minister Walter Hirche
  
• Technical University Braunschweig: Prof. Dr.-Ing. Dr. h.c. Jürgen Hesselbach, Representative: Prof. Dr. Hans-Peter Harstick