Faculty of Chemistry

Outlook

The Faculty of Chemistry’s main research focus next year will mainly be on continuing the two collaborative projects successfully launched in recent years – the CRC 1093 Supramolecular Chemistry of Proteins and the ALSTER Research Unit. These also encompass strategic and structure-building measures in the Faculty begun in recent years, which will sustainably develop the Faculty in the years to come. Last year, a W1 Junior Professorship of Biosupramolecular Chemistry was set up within the CRC. Jun. Prof. Jens Voskuhl is carrying out research in the field of biomolecular probes and is developing molecules that, for example, light up on contact with specific protein molecules. In the Faculty of Biology, a W2 Professorship of Computational Chemistry has also been recreated to reinforce the CRC and therefore also research within our Faculty. The quick appointment of a replacement to the didactics professorship of Prof. Elke Sumfleth is intended to ensure continuity in the work of the ALSTER Research Unit. The appointment process has just begun, and will hopefully be successfully concluded in the spring of 2017, so that the appointee is on board before the pending extension of the Research Unit at the end of 2017. A research training group for Nanobiophotonics is currently in preparation. In this centre, several research groups from Chemistry, Biology and Medicine headed by Prof. Sebastian Schlücker and Prof. Stephan Barcikowski intend to conduct basic research on the highly topical field of high-resolution molecular spectroscopy. Another research group focusing on Oxidation Catalysis is also in preparation, and several colleagues from the Faculty of Chemistry are involved in a CRC initiative of the Faculty of Biology. Scientists from our Faculty are also involved in the preparation of the new round of the Excellence Initiative, both as part of the Bochum Resolv Cluster of Excellence and the Materials Chain joint initiative of three Ruhr universities – Essen-Duisburg, Bochum and Dortmund. As part of the Federal Government's programme for promoting professorships ("Wanka professors"), our Faculty has applied for two additional junior professorships in the interdisciplinary fields of Energy Research and Water and Environmental Research.

Another main priority of the Faculty of Chemistry in the years to come will generally be to support the next generation of scientists and scholars. We currently have five independent early-stage research groups working for us. These young people are enriching our Faculty with new topics and experiences and broadening the research spectrum to include many exciting and new projects as described above. The recruitment process for a junior professorship (with a tenure track) at the Biofilm Centre is currently underway, and we are confident that we will succeed in appointing another excellent young scientist to our Faculty this year. Thus, with the numerous collaborative projects already under way or in preparation and the newly added academic talent, our Faculty is overall well-positioned in overall terms for the coming years.