With the decision of December 5th, 2016, the GDCh Board of Directors set up the "Equal Opportunities in Chemistry" commission. The overriding task of the commission is to anchor equal opportunities for women and men in chemistry in the GDCh in a sustainable and respectful manner. The constitutive meeting took place on September 13th, 2017 in Berlin. The commission was created as a successor to the Working Group on Equal Opportunities in Chemistry ( AKCC ), which was dissolved on December 31, 2017.
The commission steers the strategy of equal opportunities in chemistry according to the guiding principles of the GDCh in order to ensure that progress in this area is achieved within the GDCh and beyond. In coordination with the GDCh board, she develops specific goals, monitors their implementation, initiates promotional activities and takes part in projects. You can find more about the activities on a separate page.
In its meeting on March 5th, 2018 in Jena, the GDCh board approved the GDCh guiding principle for equal opportunities in chemistry.
You can find the mission statement in German here ( PDF ) and in English here ( PDF ).
dr Hildegard Nimmesgern, former Sanofi-Aventis, Frankfurt aM (2022-2023)
dr Bianca Schmid, Thermo Fisher Scientific (2022-2023)
dr Rolf Albach, Covestro, Leverkusen (from 2023)
Katrin Beuthert, Institute for Nanotechnology, KIT, Karlsruhe
Prof. Dr. Doris Klee, RWTH Aachen University
Prof. Dr. Wolfram Koch, GDCh, Frankfurt aM
Prof. Dr. Katharina Landfester, MPI-P, Mainz
dr Matthias Urmann, Sanofi-Aventis, Frankfurt aM
The commission has up to ten members, whose composition reflects the diversity in the GDCh. The JungChemikerForum (JCF) has the right to nominate a member. At least one member should be a member of the GDCh board. The members of the "Equal Opportunities in Chemistry" commission are appointed by the Board of the GDCh. The term of office is four years, two years for Chair and deputy. A representative of the JungChemikerForum will be invited to the meetings with guest status from 06/2021.
dr Rolf Albach studied chemistry in Bonn and at the Technical University of Munich, where he received his doctorate in 1992 with WA Herrmann in the team of U. Küsthardt. After a NATO scholarship at the Université de Paris-Sud with J.-J. Girerd, he joined Bayer AG in 1994 and has held managerial positions in research, application technology, sales and post-merger integration in the polyurethanes business unit since 1998. He is currently leading R&D projects in the field of circular economy, automotive interiors and flame retardancy and also supports dissertations on these topics at domestic and foreign universities. From October 2020 he took on a teaching position at the FH Aachen. Rolf Albach holds an MBA double degree from the WHU Otto Beisheim School of Management (Vallendar) and the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University (Chicago).
Rolf Albach has been working on a voluntary basis in environmental policy for 30 years, both for NGOs such as the Local Agenda and the SolarImpulse Foundation and in local and regional politics, e.g. B. in the commission for regional and structural issues of the district government of Cologne, in the administrative board of the Cologne municipal sewage company, the works committee of the Cologne waste management company and the environmental committee of the Cologne city council.
Katrin Beuthert has been doing her doctorate in inorganic chemistry since 2021 in the working group of Prof. Dr. Stefanie Dehnen initially at the Philipps University of Marburg and since 2022 at the Institute for Nanotechnology of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology. In addition, from 2019 to 2022 she was coordinator of the "MINT Summer School for Girls" project at Philipps University and women's and equal opportunities officer in the chemistry department.
Already at the beginning of her bachelor's degree in 2014, she became a GDCh member and is involved in the JCF Marburg, whose spokesperson she was from 2018 to 2022. Since 2021, Katrin Beuthert Team Lead of the JCF Team for Equal Opportunities.
Since the beginning of 2022, Katrin Beuthert has represented the young chemists in the GDCh Commission for Equal Opportunities in Chemistry and is chairwoman of the Junge Wöhler Association for Inorganic Chemistry. "Through more equal opportunities for students in STEM education, inclusion, diversity and targeted science communication, we can actively help shape a more diverse and open science community and get people excited about chemistry."
Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Doris Klee, born 1955, studied chemistry at RWTH Aachen University and received her doctorate in 1983 from DWI at RWTH Aachen eV In 1997, she completed her habilitation at the Institute for Technical and Macromolecular Chemistry, and since 2004 she has been an adjunct professor for Macromolecular Chemistry. The scientific focus of her research was the improvement of the interfacial compatibility of biomaterial surfaces and the development of so-called drug release systems.
In 2007 she received the innovation award for an ?implant for small long bones and procedures for the treatment of long bone fractures? as part of the innovation competition for the promotion of medical technology. In 2010, Prof. Klee took over the post of equal opportunities officer at the university. In addition, women clover is the division Macromolecular Chemistry of the German Chemical Society, and active board member as chairman of ACTO eV and in various advisory boards and audit committees. Doris Klee has been Vice Rector for Human Resources and Young Academics at RWTH Aachen University since October 2011.
On the way to a professorship, she realized that the proportion of women at the qualification levels from doctorate to professorship is steadily falling, especially in engineering and natural sciences. Since the potential of the very well-educated women in science must not be lost, the contribution to the development of measures for equal opportunities and a better work-life balance is particularly important to her.
Prof. Dr. Wolfram Koch has been managing director of the German Chemical Society since 2002. Studied chemistry in Darmstadt and Berlin and did a doctorate in theoretical organic chemistry with Prof. Helmut Schwarz and Prof. Gernot Frenking at the TU Berlin in 1986. This was followed by a postdoc at the IBM Almaden Research Center in San Jose, California and for several years as a permanent employee Scientist at the Institute for Supercomputing and Applied Mathematics at IBM Deutschland GmbH in Heidelberg. In 1992 Wolfram Koch a professorship for theoretical Organic Chemistry at the TU Berlin, where he taught and researched until he switched to the GDCh. The main research areas were quantum chemical calculations of the properties and reactivities of open-shell transition metal compounds as well as the spectroscopic properties of small molecules. This work is reflected in around 190 peer-reviewed scientific publications and numerous book chapters. He is also the main author of a textbook on density functional theory that has been published several times and has so far sold over 5,000 times (W. Koch and MC Holthausen: ?A Chemists' Guide to Density Functional Theory?, Wiley-VCH, Weinheim). Wolfram Koch is an honorary member of the Czech and Israeli Chemical Societies, Fellow of IUPAC and RSC, and Honorary Fellow of ChemPubSoc Europe. In addition to his work as GDCh managing director, he performs a variety of voluntary tasks as a member of supervisory and advisory boards of several scientific institutions and other organizations. He is a member of the Executive Board of the European Association of Chemical and Molecular Sciences (EuCheMS), Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Technical Information Library (TIB) Hanover, Member of the Administrative Board and the Science Commission of the Verwertungsgesellschaft Wort (VG Wort) and titular member of the " Committee on Publications and Cheminformatics Data Standards ?of the IUPAC. In May 2016 he was appointed to the High Level Advisory Group "Open Science Policy Platform" of the EU Commission.
The promotion of equal opportunities is defined as a goal in the GDCh's statutes . Supporting this is an important concern, especially for the GDCh managing director, and is a motivation for working in the commission for equal opportunities.
Prof. Dr. Katharina Landfester studied chemistry at the Technical University of Darmstadt. For her diploma thesis she was at the Ecole d'Application des Hautes Polymères in Strasbourg (Prof. M. Lambla). In 1995 she received her doctorate in physical chemistry from the Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz after collaborating with Prof. HW Spiess at the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research. After another year as a group leader at the institute, she moved to Lehigh University (Prof. M. El-Aasser) for a postdoctoral position, where she first came into contact with the miniemulsion technique. She returned to Germany in 1998 and joined the group of Prof. M. Antonietti at the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces in Golm. There she headed the miniemulsion group for new possibilities for the synthesis of complex nanoparticles. In 2002 she habilitated in physical chemistry at the University of Potsdam. In 2003 she accepted a chair (C4) for macromolecular chemistry at the University of Ulm. Here she began her activities in the field of biomedical applications. Since 2008 she has been Director at the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research.
In 1992 and 1994 she received DAAD grants for her research activities in Strasbourg. In 1996 she received a DFG grant for her research in the USA. In 1998 she received the Liebig grant from the Chemical Industry Fund (FCI). In 2001 she received the Reimund-Stadler Award from the German Chemical Society (GDCh) and the Prize from the Dr. Hermann Schnell Foundation. From 2002 to 2007 she was a member of the Young Academy of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities and of the German natural scientist Leopoldina; In 2003/2004 she was the spokeswoman for the young academy. From 2007 to 2015 she was a member of the board of the macromolecular chemistry group of the Division . She has been a member of the Academy for Technical Sciences (Acatech) since 2010 and has been on the Board of the GDCh since 2016.
After her professional career in the pharmaceutical industry, Dr. Nimmesgern is now a freelance career development consultant.
In 1985 she entered the pharmaceutical industry for the first time as laboratory manager for Medicinal Chemistry at Hoechst. In 1989 she switched to International Marketing as Product Manager, where she most recently headed the global Marketing department of the Vasotherapeutics business unit. After merging with other companies to form Hoechst-Marion-Roussel (HMR), she became Head of Human Resources for global research in 1996. After merging with Rhône-Poulenc to form Aventis in 1999, Dr. Negotiate strategic projects in global research and development. In 2002 she became head of the global Knowledge Networks Management R&D department. Here she was responsible for the areas of Knowledge Management, Alliance Management and Risk Management. When the merger with Sanofi to form Sanofi-Aventis in 2004, she took over the management of Scientific Relations for R&D Germany.
Miss Dr. Nimmesgern studied organic chemistry in 1984 with Prof. Dr. Ernst Schaumann is doing his doctorate at the University of Hamburg. This was followed by a one-year post-doc stay with Prof. Dr. Albert Padwa at Emory University of Atlanta, USA. For this she received a Feodor Lynen grant from the Humboldt Foundation and a Fulbright travel grant.
From 2011 to 2017, Dr. Nimmesgern volunteers the GDCh Working Group Equal Opportunities in Chemistry (AKCC), which was transformed into the Equal Opportunities Commission in early 2018.
?I am committed to equal opportunities for women and men in chemistry so that women experience the same visibility, appreciation and opportunities as men - that means equal pay for the same work, access to top positions in business, universities and politics , moreover protection from violence. "
dr Bianca Schmid works at Thermo Fisher Scientific in the Market Development Biomarkers department in Berlin. In this role, she drives market research forward and shapes the portfolio synergies throughout the company. With her previous experience as a lean manager at Thermo Fisher, she was able to gain a great overview of the entire business unit and, in addition to process optimization, also dealt with topics such as culture development and change Management .
Since the start of her doctoral studies in 2015, Bianca Schmid has been active in the GDCh?s Young Chemists? Forum and in spring 2017, together with JuWiChem , organized the ?Chemistry in Practice? event on the subject of ?Equal Opportunities in Chemistry? with impressive speakers from science and business. In the 2017/2018 term of office, she was a member of the JCF national board and responsible for communication with the regional forums, partner companies such as the jDPG and various industrial partners. Here she raised the issue of equal opportunities at federal level for the first time. Thanks to Bianca's pioneering work, the topic has now become an integral part of the national board.
From 2018-2022, she represented the interests of young chemists as a JCF representative on the commission and has held the deputy chair to this day.
dr Bianca Schmid noticed that equal opportunities and mental health are very important topics for young chemists. A particularly wide range of career opportunities and the compatibility of family and work are of great interest to both sexes today, especially in the post-pandemic era. Since 2022, Dr. As a business coach, Bianca Schmid supports her clients on these topics.
dr After completing her bachelor?s degree at the TU Dortmund University , Bianca Schmid went to the Université Pierre et Marie Curie (Sorbonne Université) in Paris (F) with the Erasmus program. For her master?s degree, she moved to the Free University of Berlin. Bianca Schmid did her doctorate in organic chemistry in Professor Süssmuth's working group at the TU Berlin.
Dr. Matthias Urmann studied chemistry at the University of Heidelberg from 1983 to 1989. There he also received his doctorate from 1989 to 1992 under Professor Günter Helmchen. After a postdoc at Harvard University, Cambridge, USA in the working group of Prof. Elias J. Corey, he joined what was then Hoechst AG in 1993 as head of the Medicinal Chemistry laboratory. After various roles in the company, including as Head of administration at Sanofi R&D Germany, one of the companies that emerged from Hoechst AG, and Head of the Insulins & Peptides department within the Diabetes Research & Translational Medicine unit, he is now in the Business Development Diabetes External division Active in innovation. From 2018 to 2019 he was President of the German Chemical Society and is also active in the GDCh specialist groups for Medicinal Chemistry and the Liebig Association for Organic Chemistry .
In addition to his involvement in the GDCh, he is a board member of Science4Life, an initiative that has been supported by the GDCh for many years and supports young entrepreneurs from the life sciences / chemistry & energy sector on their way to self-employment.
Commission members 2018 - 2021
presidency
dr Hildegard Nimmesgern, ex-Sanofi-Aventis, Frankfurt aM
proxy
dr Bianca Schmid, Thermo Fisher Scientific
assessor
Prof. Dr. Axel Jacobi von Wangelin, University of Hamburg
Prof. Dr. Doris Klee, RWTH Aachen University
Prof. Dr. Wolfram Koch, GDCh, Frankfurt aM
Prof. Dr. Katharina Landfester, MPI-P, Mainz
dr Melanie Schultz, Merck, Darmstadt
dr Matthias Urmann, Sanofi-Aventis, Frankfurt aM
The GDCh is a signatory of the Diversity Charter for Diversity in the World of Work under the patronage of Chancellor Angela Merkel (February 2021)
The GDCh is co-signatory of the Statement on inclusion and diversity in the chemical sciences of June 8, 2020.
... to the article by Tomas Hudlicky in Angewandte Chemie
Further links can be found here.
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last modified: 04.05.2023 07:59 H from Translator