Prof. Dr Reinhard Merkel is Professor Emeritus of Criminal Law and Philosophy of Law at the University of Hamburg. He was born in Hof, Bavaria, on 12 April 1950. Based on the recommendation of the federal German government he was a member of the German Ethics Council between 2012 and 2020. Since 2021, he has been a member of the Freedom of Science Network (Netzwerk Wissenschaftsfreiheit). Merkel is a recognized expert in the dogmatics of criminal law, core research in legal philosophy, legal ethics and theories of justice, law and ethics in medicine and the neurosciences, as well as political philosophy and international criminal law.