Faculty of Chemistry

The Faculty of Chemistry has around 1400 students, divided in roughly equal numbers between its three degree programmes in Chemistry, Water Science, and Teaching, and is one of the largest faculties of its kind nationwide. At present, 23 professors and five independent early-stage research groups (three of which are Junior Professorships) teach and research in eight different disciplines: Inorganic Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, Physical Chemistry, Technical Chemistry, Analytical Chemistry, the Biofilm Centre, Didactics of Chemistry, and Theoretical Chemistry. Each year, some 40 to 50 young scientists, not only from Chemistry but also on account of our interdisciplinary research from Physics, Biology and Engineering, complete their doctorates with us.

The research structure of our Faculty is highly interdisciplinary and covers the entire spectrum from basic research to topics of a more applied nature. Many of the research projects are externally funded. The Faculty's external funding currently totals nearly 7 million euros. The Faculty of Chemistry is involved in several coordinated national research programmes (including 2 Collaborative Research Areas, 1 Transregio-SFB with China, 1 Research Unit, 2 DFG Priority Programmes, 2 Research Training Groups, 2 Centres of Excellence and 1 NRW (North Rhine-Westphalia) Progress Group). Three of these collaborations are led and coordinated by our Faculty. The Faculty of Chemistry is similarly coordinating several EU projects in their entirety or in part. Added to these are numerous BMBF, AiF, Volkswagen, industry and, in particular, DFG projects as individual grants.

Our research can be divided into four major thematic areas: Supramolecular Chemistry with a biological and material science focus, Nanosciences with a focus on energy research, Water and Environmental Research, and Empirical Educational Research. The Faculty is thus significantly involved in three of the University's four main research areas. Several core scientific institutions within our University are led by members of our Faculty (CENIDE, ZWU, ZLB, IZfB). Our scientists cooperate closely in terms of their research work with the neighbouring faculties, in particular with Biology, Physics, Engineering, Medicine and Educational Sciences. The Faculty also has two affiliated institutes, the Deutsche Textilforschungszentrum Nordwest (German Textile Research Centre North-West, DTNW) in Krefeld and the Rhenish-Westphalian Institute for Water Research (IWW) in Mülheim, both of which conduct practical, applied research. Members of our Faculty serve as scientific directors of these affiliated institutes.