GDCh Commission for Equal Opportunities in Chemistry

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.