Emmy Noether Programme: 1.7 million euros for chemist at Münster University
Dr. Manuel van Gemmeren, a chemist, convinced with his science: The German Research Foundation (DFG) funds the junior scientist from the University of Münster with almost 1.7 million euros as part of the Emmy Noether Programme. This will enable him to set up his own research group at the Institute of Organic Chemistry over the next six years.
The 34-year-old investigates so-called C-H functionalizations that can directly convert carbon-hydrogen bonds into more complex structures. Such resource-saving synthetic methods are relevant, among other things, for the transition to sustainable energy systems and chemical value chains based on renewable resources. Manuel van Gemmeren and his research group, which will initially consist of four researchers, want to study new catalysts and concepts in order to develop efficient synthetic methods with which organic molecules such as drugs, pesticides, or parts of functional materials can be produced.
The organic chemist has been conducting research at Münster University since 2016, so far in cooperation with the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Energy Conversion in Mülheim an der Ruhr. "For me as a junior researcher, being accepted into the Emmy Noether Programme is an outstanding honour and a decisive step on the way to my own university professorship," stresses Manuel van Gemmeren. "The funding secures my scientific independence and enables my working group and me to continue our research in an ideally equipped manner in the coming years.”
This is in line with the objective of the Emmy Noether Programme, with which the DFG aims to grant early scientific independence to exceptionally qualified early career researchers.
Personal background:
After studying chemistry at the University of Freiburg on a scholarship from the German Academic Scholarship Foundation, Manuel van Gemmeren did his doctoral studies at the Max Planck Institut für Kohlenforschung in Mülheim an der Ruhr. There he investigated the use of chiral anions in catalysis, supported by a Kekulé grant from the Fonds der Chemischen Industrie. After completing his doctoral studies, he continued his research as a Feodor Lynen fellow of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation at the Institute of Chemical Research of Catalonia (ICIQ) in Tarragona, Spain, and began his habilitation in Münster in 2016, supported by the Fonds der Chemischen Industrie and the Max Planck Society. The title of his Emmy Noether fellowship is " Development of Synthetic Methods for the Late-Stage Modification of Synthetic Intermediates".