Bernhard finished his Master in Physics at Heidelberg University, and moved
to the University of Chicago for his PhD, working on a fixed-target experiment at FNAL.
He continued as a post-doc at the Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics, where he has remained since then and is now a staff scientist.
After working on an accelerator experiment at DESY, Bernhard became part of a group that initiated GERDA at
LNGS. He was the spokesperson of GERDA for one term and is currently the deputy spokesperson. Currently, his research focus is on LEGEND and he is the project director for the LEGEND-200 construction at LNGS.
His term with the EAC begins spring 2021.