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An amendment to the Science Time Contract Act (WissZeitVG) is currently being discussed. In principle, a discussion of the career paths of young scientists inside and outside of academic institutions is very welcome. From the point of view of the signatory scientific societies, essential aspects have not yet been adequately described in the debate about the amendment of the WissZeitVG for the natural and life science disciplines.
Scientific work in the natural and life sciences as well as in biomedicine usually requires the collection of complex data sets and complex quantitative analyzes of processes that inherently take place on long-term time scales. The recognition of the associated contributions by the scientific community takes place through scientific publications in leading international journals, which require internationally competitive work opportunities well beyond the envisaged 3-year postdoc phase. Visible publications then enable scientists to independently manage their own research projects and thus form the basis for appointment to a permanent professorship or comparable management positions.
A limitation of the postdoc phase to only 3 years is therefore clearly too short, especially in an international comparison, and would massively restrict the individual work opportunities of scientists, especially with regard to a further academic career. A migration of scientists abroad and a significant loss in the quality of research in the natural and life sciences as well as in biomedicine would be the inevitable negative consequences. Furthermore, such a narrow time limit for the postdoc phase would lead to a significant disadvantage for women in science.
In addition, we would like to point out that the intended amendment to the WissZeitVG, which is currently being actively discussed by all those involved, will no longer create permanent positions. This can only be achieved by significantly increasing the permanent funds for basic funding of universities and non-university institutions.
The undersigned professional societies represent more than 45,000 members in the natural and life sciences as well as in biomedicine.
With around 30,000 members, the German Chemical Society (GDCh) is one of the largest chemical science societies in the world. It promotes scientific work, research and teaching as well as the exchange and dissemination of new scientific knowledge, also through transdisciplinary and international cooperation. Furthermore, the GDCh is committed to modern training and further education in schools, universities and in the professional environment.
Contact:
Prof. Dr. Volker Haucke
President of the Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology eV
Phone +49 (0) 30 947 93 100
Email: haucke@fmp-berlin.de
https://gbm-online.de
dr Karin J Schmitz
German Chemical Society registered association
public relations
Phone +49 69 7917-493
Email: pr@gdch.de
www.gdch.de/presse
The press release as a pdf document
Addition to the press release of March 27, 2023:
After the press release was published, the following societies (with a total of more than 10,000 members) joined the call:
On the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the death of the chemist Karl Ziegler, the German Chemical Society (GDCh) invites all interested parties to a public symposium on April 25, 2023 in Frankfurt am Main. The program includes lectures about Nobel Prize winner Karl Ziegler and his research: It is about the history of polymers, their benefits, their disadvantages and how sustainable recycling can be successful. In addition, chemistry Nobel laureate Benjamin List presented organocatalysis, another of Ziegler's exciting research fields, and the Karl Ziegler Award, endowed with 50,000 euros, was awarded.
On the fiftieth anniversary of his death, the GDCh commemorates Karl Ziegler and his work, which is still relevant today. As part of a public symposium, scientists will present Ziegler's life and research and show what direct influence his discoveries still have on our lives today. Current developments such as questions of sustainability, the circular economy and recycling are not neglected. As a special highlight, the 2021 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry, Professor Dr. Benjamin List from the Max Planck Institute for Coal Research in Mülheim an der Ruhr will give a lecture on organocatalysis (ie catalysis using small organic molecules). He explains why life without catalysis is unthinkable and how organocatalysts can be used to produce drugs, fuels and materials in a resource-saving and sustainable manner. The GDCh President Dr. Karsten Danielmeier and the deputy GDCh President Katharina Uebele.
Karl Ziegler, who was born in 1898, is best known for his contributions to the development of polymer chemistry and catalysis. In particular, Ziegler-Natta catalysis, named after him and his Italian colleague Giulio Natta, revolutionized the plastics industry and contributed to the development of light, robust and durable materials. Together with Natta, he received the 1963 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Karl Ziegler also has a special meaning for the GDCh: He was its first president after its foundation in 1949.
Karl Ziegler Award and Karl Ziegler Young Scientist Award
During the event, the GDCh awards the Karl Ziegler Award - one of the most valuable German awards in the field of chemistry - to Professor Dr. Tanja Weil from the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research in Mainz. The prize is awarded to scientists who conduct research in Karl Ziegler's fields. Tanja Weil receives the award for her outstanding and innovative work, in which she combines polymer synthesis and supramolecular structure formation in order to answer current biomedical questions. With her research, she is opening up new avenues for compatible materials in biomedicine that can actively bring about regeneration processes. The Karl Ziegler Award is endowed with 50,000 euros and a gold medal and is funded by a foundation that Ziegler's daughter, Marianne Witte, set up at the GDCh.
Young scientists will also receive an award at the symposium: Dr. Christopher Teskey from RWTH Aachen University receives the Karl Ziegler Young Scientist Award for his research project to develop a new reductive cross-olefin coupling reaction using visible light. The junior research group leader receives funds totaling 30,000 euros to finance a postdoctoral position for the project for one year.
the event
The Karl Ziegler Jubilee Symposium will take place on April 25, 2023 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the Max Buchner Lecture Hall at DECHEMA (Theodor-Heuss-Allee 25, 60486 Frankfurt am Main). All interested parties are cordially invited to take part in the event, which is also expressly aimed at the interested public. Admission is free, we ask that you register by April 10th.
Program and registration at https://www.gdch.de/gdch/stiftungen/karl-ziegler-stiftung/karl-ziegler-jubilaeumssymposium.html
With around 30,000 members, the German Chemical Society (GDCh) is one of the largest chemical science societies in the world. It promotes scientific work, research and teaching as well as the exchange and dissemination of scientific knowledge. The GDCh manages numerous dependent foundations in trust. The purpose of these foundations is to award prizes, grants and grants. Foundation advisory boards decide on the awarding of prizes, awards and scholarships. At 50,000 euros, the Karl Ziegler Award is the GDCh's most valuable prize, along with the Klaus Grohe Prize and the Otto Hahn Award . It was first awarded in 1998 with funds from the Karl Ziegler Foundation to Gerhard Ertl, the 2007 Nobel Prize winner.
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Joint press release of the German Association of Mathematicians (DMV), the German Physical Society (DPG), the German Chemical Society (GDCh) and the Association of Biology, Biosciences and Biomedicine in Germany (VBIO)
This year, the Ars legendi faculty prize for excellent university teaching in mathematics and the natural sciences goes to Holger Schielzeth, University of Jena (biology), Sebastian Seiffert, University of Mainz (chemistry), Claudia Kirch, University of Magdeburg (mathematics) and Ivonne Möller, University Bochum (physics).
Now in its tenth year, the Ars legendi Faculty Prize for Mathematics and Natural Sciences honors scientists who have distinguished themselves through outstanding, innovative and exemplary achievements in teaching, advice and support. It is awarded by the Stifterverband, the German Chemical Society, the German Mathematical Association, the German Physical Society and the Association of Biology, Biosciences and Biomedicine in Germany. The award has been presented in the categories of biology, chemistry, mathematics and physics since 2014 and is endowed with prize money of EUR 5,000 each.
This year, the awardee were selected by a nine-member jury made up of representatives of the scientific disciplines and students. She awarded the Ars legendi Faculty Prize 2023 to the following people from teaching and course coordination:
In the Biology category
receives the Ars legendi faculty prize Professor Dr. Holger Schielzeth from the Friedrich Schiller University Jena, where he took over the professorship for population ecology in 2016 "and has since developed an exemplary teaching profile that extends from the 1st semester in the bachelor's program in "Biology" to the master's program in "Ecology, Evolution and Systematics” runs through. Prof. Schielzeth developed innovative teaching formats for compulsory courses in the bachelor’s degree in biology and, in addition to professional qualifications, teaches key qualifications in the area of data management and interpretation as well as the formation of hypotheses using simulation models,” the jury explained.
In the chemistry category
the faculty prize goes to Professor Dr. Sebastian Seiffert from the Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz. He is honored "for his groundbreaking combination of teaching formats in his courses in physical and macromolecular chemistry, in particular for the creation of a textbook that maps a course in physical chemistry in blended learning format, as well as for his commitment to the current topic of the To bring climate change closer to the student body and a broader audience in courses, lectures and panel discussions," says the jury.
In the mathematics category
the award goes to Professor Dr. Claudia Kirch from the Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg. "She cleverly combined elements from classroom teaching with digital formats. This includes, for example, a weekly schedule, short lecture videos and assignments with mutual assessment by the students. Ms. Kirch has succeeded in showing in her teaching how modern teaching concepts can be used effectively and realistically in practice in mathematics. She is also recognized for her commitment to making statistical skills, such as data literacy, accessible to students and to the general public in outreach events,” said the jury.
In the physics category
the course coordinator Dr. Ivonne Möller from the Ruhr University in Bochum received the Ars legendi faculty prize "for her compulsory modules 'learning group management', which are newly anchored in the curriculum in the second bachelor's year with the aim of increasing the ability to study and reducing the number of students at the beginning of the course, as well as for 'project management' in the first year of the master’s degree in order to improve professional qualifications,” the jury explained.
The ceremonial award ceremony for the Ars legendi faculty prizes for mathematics and natural sciences will take place on April 25, 2023 at 5 p.m. in the Magnus House of the DPG in Berlin Mitte. Interested parties are cordially invited. Please register by April 3, 2023 by email to vogt@mathematik.de.
Further information on the Ars legendi Faculty Prize for Mathematics and Natural Sciences at https://www.stifterverband.org/ars-legendi-mn
press contact
German Association of Mathematicians
Thomas Vogt, Tel. 030 838-75657
Email: vogt@mathematik.de
donor association
Peggy Gross, Tel. 030 322982-530
Email: presse@stifterverband.de
The German Chemical Society (GDCh) awards Professor Dr. Mario Thevis, German Sport University Cologne, the Fresenius Award. He receives the award, which comes with a gold medal and prize money of 7,500 euros, for special services to analytical chemistry. Because the internationally renowned doping expert shows with his work how important and relevant analysis is for society. Thevis will receive the award on April 11 at ANAKON 2023 in Vienna. The Division Award for analytical chemistry and the DAAS Award are also awarded on site.
As a world-renowned doping expert, Mario Thevis is a flagship of German analytical chemistry. He has been active in the field of doping control at World Championships and the Olympic Games for around twenty years. Due to the associated public visibility in all media, he represents analytical chemistry not only within science, but also in public perception. But his research results also speak for themselves: Thevis has already developed numerous new, powerful analytical methods for a large number of substances and their metabolites that are currently used as doping agents or could be used in the future.
The expert is always aware of his great responsibility. Because every analytical result can have an immediate and decisive impact on the Career, reputation and future of the people concerned. He showed many times that initially inexplicable and particularly rare analytical results require further detailed investigations. For this reason, Thevis is also regularly consulted as an expert in sports law and criminal law proceedings. Last but not least, he succeeds in presenting his research in an engaging way. He has already been a guest speaker at many international Conferences and was appointed speaker for the Fresenius Lecture in 2022/23 by the GDCh Division of Analytical Chemistry .
Mario Thevis, born in Aachen in 1973, studied chemistry at the RWTH Aachen University and sports science at the German Sport University Cologne, where he also received his doctorate in 2001 from the Institute for Biochemistry. After a research stay at the University of California, Los Angeles, USA, he habilitated at the German Sport University in Cologne. He has been a professor for preventive doping research there since 2006. Since 2016 he has been director of the Institute of Biochemistry and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA)-certified anti-doping laboratory in Cologne. Already during his dissertation he supported the doping control laboratory in Helsinki (Finland) within the framework of the Nordic World Ski Championships in 2001. Since then he has accompanied numerous world championships and Olympic Games with his scientific expertise. Thevis has published his research in over 450 scientific publications in renowned journals and has already received numerous awards for his work. He is Director of the European Monitoring Center for Emerging Doping Substances (EUMOCEDA), and Editor-in-Chief of the journal Drug Testing and Analysis, published by Wiley-VCH.
The Division Award for analytical chemistry and the DAAS Award are also awarded as part of ANAKON: Professor Dr. Nicole Strittmatter, Technical University of Munich, receives the award from the Division for her work in the field of multimodal mass spectrometric imaging in pharmaceutical and oncological research. dr Carla Kirschbaum was awarded the prize of the German Working Group for Analytical Spectroscopy (DAAS) for her dissertation entitled "Lipid Fingerprinting by Mass Spectrometry and Laser Light", which she completed at Freie Universität Berlin and the Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society. awarded by the GDCh Division of Analytical Chemistry .
With around 30,000 members, the German Chemical Society (GDCh) is one of the largest chemical science societies in the world. It has 27 Divisions, including the Division of Analytical Chemistry with around 2500 members. The Division sees its main task in bringing together all scientists and practitioners interested in analytical chemistry in the broadest sense for the purpose of promoting this field of knowledge. The Division maintains nine working groups for the various analytical disciplines.
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From March 21st to 24th, the spring symposium of the Young Chemists Forum (JCF) of the German Chemical Society (GDCh) will take place in Gießen . Under the motto "Chemistry is coming home", around 300 young scientists will come together at one of the birthplaces of modern chemistry, the Justus Liebig University in Gießen. In addition to scientific lectures - including that of a Nobel Prize winner -, poster sessions and workshops, the conference program includes an industrial exhibition and a varied supporting program. Other highlights include the presentation of the Carl Roth Promotional Prize and the Dres. Volker and Elke Münch Prize.
The JCF Spring Symposium has been one of the largest conferences in Europe by and for young researchers for 25 years. The event is organized annually by changing regional forums of the JungChemikerForum, the junior organization of the GDCh. In 2023, the regional forums in Gießen, Frankfurt and Marburg took over the organization and created a diverse program together. In addition to internationally renowned scientists, junior research group leaders and young researchers in particular will have their say at the event. One of the best-known speakers this time is the Nobel Prize winner for chemistry, Professor Dr. Benjamin List, Max Planck Institute for Coal Research, Mülheim. The former and now deputy GDCh President Professor Dr. Peter R. Schreiner, Justus Liebig University Gießen, and Professor Dr. Stefanie Dehnen, GDCh board member and executive director of the Institute for Nanotechnology at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, will present at the spring symposium.
On the occasion of the round anniversary of the event there will be a review of the past symposia and Professor Dr. Peter R. Schreiner will underscore the motto of the event with a chemical-historical Liebig lecture . In two poster sessions, students and doctoral candidates from all areas of chemistry and related natural sciences will have the opportunity for professional exchange. In addition, young chemists can present their topic in “5-minute pitches”, i.e. short presentations. The best posters or pitches will be awarded a prize. The conference will be accompanied by an industrial exhibition. Workshops, excursions and social activities complete the program.
On March 22nd, the Carl-Roth Award will be awarded during the Conference . The GDCh awards the prize, which is worth 5,000 euros, to young chemists who develop resource-conserving synthetic routes or use chemicals in innovative ways. The prize is financed by Carl Roth GmbH & Co. KG, which also contributes a further 3000 euros in the form of a voucher. The prize goes to Simon BH Karnbrock, Georg-August-
University of Göttingen, for the excellent and independent work he has done during his master's degree. As part of his master's thesis, he succeeded in developing a phosphorus-based organocatalyst that promotes redox processes via a phosphorus-ligand redox cooperation. The results of his work were published by him as first author in Angewandte Chemie - one of the world's most important chemistry journals, which is published by the GDCh.
The Dres. Volker and Elke Münch Prize will also be awarded on March 22nd. The prize of the foundation of the same name, which is based at the GDCh, is endowed with 7000 euros and is given to preferably young inventors who have made a pioneering invention in the field of chemistry or chemical process engineering. The prize money supports a patent application. This year the award goes to a team consisting of Maximilian Röhrl and Professor Dr. Josef Breu from the University of Bayreuth, Dr. Pier Lorenzo Caruso and Dr. Emily Boswell, both Procter & Gamble. Together they developed a sustainable paper barrier laminate for flexible packaging applications. The foundation's advisory board sees the invention as an interesting and practical approach that can be used to meet society's need for sustainable packaging.
On March 23, Professor Dr. Johanna R. Bruckner, University of Stuttgart and Professor Dr. Lena Daumann, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, the FAIR4Chem Award for her published datasets from chemical research. The prize is awarded by the NFDI4Chem consortium, in which the GDCh is involved, and supported by the chemical industry fund.
Further information can be found at https://symposium.jcf.io.
With around 30,000 members, the German Chemical Society is one of the largest chemical science societies in the world. It promotes scientific work, research and teaching as well as the exchange and dissemination of new scientific knowledge. The GDCh supports the creation of networks, transdisciplinary and international cooperation and continuous education and training in schools, universities and in the professional environment. The GDCh has 27 Divisions as well as 60 local sections and regional forums of the JungChemikerForum (JCF) at 54 university locations. The JCF forms a nationwide platform for around 10,000 young members of the GDCh.
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The German Chemical Society (GDCh) will present two of its renowned prizes at the Chemiedozententagung , which will take place from March 13th to 15th at the Technical University of Dresden. professor dr Kai Exner, University of Duisburg-Essen, receives the Carl-Duisberg Memorial Award and Professor Dr. Oliver Trapp , Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munich, is awarded the Horst Pracejus Prize. The GDCh Association of German University Professors of Chemistry (ADUC) from the chemistry faculties from Germany and neighboring countries to the Conference . The Working Group also awards its three ADUC awards on site.
The GDCh awards Professor Dr. Kai Exner, University of Duisburg-Essen, the Carl-Duisberg Memorial Award for his outstanding conceptual contributions in the highly topical and competitive fields of theoretical electrocatalysis and battery research. Exner has undergone an impressive scientific development. Even at an early stage in his academic Career , his work bears witness to groundbreaking approaches and a high degree of independence. The Carl-Duisberg Memorial Award, endowed with 7,500 euros, has been awarded since 1936 to young university teachers who work at a German university or as Germans at a foreign university, do not yet hold a W2/W3 or comparable position and are under 40 years of age have. Of the prize money, EUR 5,000 goes directly to the awardee and the remaining EUR 2,500 to the working group.
Kai Exner, born in Bad Arolsen in 1987, studied chemistry at the Justus Liebig University in Gießen, where he received his doctorate in physical chemistry in 2015. After postdoctoral stays at the University of Ulm and in Gießen , he went to Sofia University, Bulgaria, in 2017 as a Feodor Lynen Research Fellow of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. In 2020 he received a return grant from the foundation, which he used to conduct research at the University of Duisburg-Essen. He has been a junior professor there with a focus on theoretical inorganic chemistry since June 2021. Exner has already received numerous awards (including an ADUC award in 2022), scholarships and third-party funding. He has published over 60 articles in renowned scientific journals, more than 50 of them as first author or corresponding author.
The GDCh awards another award to Professor Dr. Oliver Trapp, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich. He receives the Horst Pracejus Prize for his fundamental contributions to self-amplification in asymmetric catalysis, to enantioselective autocatalysis, and to the determination of absolute configuration by direct methods. With his development of the first self-reinforcing asymmetric reactions and the elucidation of the mechanism of asymmetric autocatalysis, Trapp showed for the first time that such chemical processes are a general phenomenon and can even be designed rationally. He identified the generic principles of autocatalysis and made the enormous potential accessible both conceptually and experimentally. Since 1997, the GDCh has been honoring scientists for outstanding work in the field of enantioselectivity or chirality with the Horst Pracejus Prize, which is endowed with 7,500 euros. The namesake Professor Horst Pracejus was known for his research in the field of chiral catalysis and Head of the Catalysis Research Institute in Rostock.
Oliver Trapp, born in 1973, studied chemistry at the Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, where he received his doctorate in organic chemistry in 2001. After research stays at Stanford University, California, USA, and at the Max Planck Institute for Coal Research in Mülheim an der Ruhr, he taught at the Ruhr University in Bochum, where he also habilitated. In 2008 he accepted the call to the Ruprecht-Karls-University Heidelberg, where he was also Managing Director of the Organic Chemical Institute Heidelberg from 2012 to 2015. Since 2016 he has been a professor of organic chemistry at the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich. He has also been Director of the Department of Organic Chemistry there since 2018 and Director of the Department of Chemistry since 2021. In 2010 Trapp founded the company Trapp ChemTech, which develops software tools for data processing and data management in chemical, pharmaceutical and environmental analysis. Trapp has received numerous awards and prizes and supports committees and advisory boards with his expertise.
As part of the Conference , the ADUC also honors three young scientists for establishing an independent research area. Jun.-Prof. dr Christoph Kerzig, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, receives an ADUC award for the further development of photochemical energy conversion, especially in water, and for the development of novel two-photon processes for photocatalysis with visible light. Also awarded is Dr. Golo Storch, Technical University of Munich, for the biomimetic development and investigation of substituted flavins as molecular redox catalysts in organic synthesis. and dr Terrance Hadlington, Technical University of Munich, receives an ADUC award for the implementation of the one‐site ambiphilia concept, which enables sophisticated cooperative bond activations on transition metal complexes with low‐valent, redox‐active main group ligands and makes them usable for homogeneous catalytic processes, especially hydroamination.
Further information on the Conference at www.gdch.de/cdt2023
With around 30,000 members, the German Chemical Society (GDCh) is one of the largest chemical science societies in the world. It has 27 Divisions and awards numerous prizes for special achievements in chemical research. The traditional Association of German University Professors of Chemistry (ADUC), which is based at the GDCh, awards up to three young scientists every year (during habilitation, scholarship or junior professorship) for establishing an independent research area.
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public relations
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Tel. 069 / 7917-493
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