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Junior research groups at Freie Universität Berlin

By establishing junior research groups, the university offers outstanding young scholars and researchers the opportunity to conduct independent research and build up their own working groups. In recent years, a number of funding institutions have established programs of this kind that include participation from academics and scientists at Freie Universität Berlin.

Here you will find further information on the current conditions for Junior Research Group Leaders at Freie Universität Berlin.

Biodegradable Multifunctional Nanosystems for Pathogen Blockade and Infection prevention (PathoBlock)

Group head: Dr. Ievgen Donskyi
Funding period: 2/2023 - 1/2028
Dept. of Biology, Chemistry, Pharmacy (SupraFab)
Email: ievgen.donskyi@fu-berlin.de

Health- and Climate-related Correlates of Mobility Behaviors under Current and Future Climate Conditions (AMBER)

Group head: Dr. Jan Keller
Funding period: 3/2023 - 2/2028
Dept. of Education and Psychology (Health Psychology)
Email: jan.keller@fu-berlin.de

Biomimetic Multivalent Mucin Peptides for Mucolytic and Antiviral Applications

Group head: Dr. Daniel Christian Lauster
Funding period: 1/2021 - 12/2024
Dept. of Biology, Chemistry, Pharmacy (Organic Chemistry)
Email: daniel.lauster@fu-berlin.de

Bioeconomy as Social Change (Module 1), Food for Justice - Power, Politics and Food Inequality

Group head: Prof. Dr. Renata Campos Motta
Funding period: 4/2019 - 3/2024
Dept. Institute for Latin American Studies
Email: renata.motto@fu-berlin.de

The Emmy Noether Programme supports researchers in achieving independence at an early stage of their scientific careers. Postdocs gain the qualifications required for a university teaching career during a DFG-funded period, usually lasting five years, in which they lead their own independent junior research group.

As a rule, researchers who have acquired between two and four years of postdoctoral research experience are eligible to apply. Applicants must have international research experience.

Microscale and Nanoscale Physics of Topological Metals

Group head: Dr. Maxim Breitkreiz
Funding period: 9/2023 - 8/2026
Dept. of Physics, Institute of Theoretical Physics
Email: breitkr@zedat.fu-berlin.de 

Mythical Literary Works of the Old Babylonian Period as Epistemic Artefacts - as well as the Question of a "Philosophy before the Greeks"

Group head: Dr. Gösta Gabriel
Funding period: 10/2019 - 9/2025
Dept. of History and Cultural Studies, Institute of Ancient Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations
Email: goesta.gabriel@fu-berlin.de

The Circuit Variability Underlying Drosophila Behavioural Individuality

Group head: Dr. Gerit Linneweber
Funding period: 1/2021 - 4/2027
Dept. of Biology, Chemistry, Pharmacy, Institute of Biology
Email: gerit.linneweber@fu-berlin.de

Oxygenic photosynthesis at its energy limit: Membrane and protein remodelling for growth in the near infrared

Group head: Dr. Dennis Nürnberg 
Funding period: 4/2020 - 6/2026
Dept. of Physics, Institute of Experimental Physics
Email: dennis.nuernberg@fu-berlin.de

Patterns of Knowledge Circulation: Tradition and Reception of Jewish Esotericism in Manuscript and Printing in Early Modern East Central Europe

Group head: Dr. Agata Paluch
Funding period: 4/2019 - 3/2025
Dept. of History and Cultural Studies, Institute of Jewish Studies
Email: paluch@fu-berlin.de 

Context-dependent Modulation of Memory Systems

Group head: Dr. Lisa Scheunemann
Funding period: 10/2022 - 9/2025
Dept. of Biology, Chemistry, Pharmacy, Institute of Biology
Email: lisa.scheunemann@fu-berlin.de


The Heisenberg Programme is directed primarily at those researchers who have qualified for professorship via the Emmy Noether Programme, DFG staff positions, private-sector research or non-faculty academic positions. The target group also includes junior professors who have received positive evaluations, those who have achieved their habilitation or equivalent, and German researchers returning from abroad, as well as appropriately qualified foreign researchers looking to pursue careers in Germany.

Structural biology and biochemical insights into posttranscriptional silencing of eukaryotic mRNA

Group Head: Prof. Dr. Sutapa Chakrabarti, PhD
Funding period: 6/2022 - 5/2027
Dept. of Biology, Chemistry, Pharmacy, Institut of Chemistry and Biochemistry

Studies on the Materialization of Rule, Elite Networks and Intersections of Religions

Group head:  Prof. Dr. Babett Edelmann-Singer
Funding period:  9/2023 - 7/2025
Dept. of History and Cultural Sudies, Friedrich-Meinecke-Institute of History, Ancient History

Chemical Functionalization of 2D Materials beyond Graphene

Group head: Prof. Dr. Christian Papp
Funding period: 5/2023 - 4/2026
Dept. of Biology, Chemistry, Pharmacy, Institut of Chemistry and Biochemistry

A 'Freigeist' fellow: for the Volkswagen Foundation this means a young researcher with a strong personality, a creative mind, an ability to identify and use freedom, dedicated to overcoming resistance. If necessary, he or she will be a free spirit, enjoying the unexpected, even unexpected difficulties. A 'Freigeist' fellow opens up new horizons and combines critical analysis with imagination and innovative solutions. By thinking ahead the 'Freigeist' fellow will act as a catalyst in overcoming existing disciplinary, institutional and even national boundaries.

The International Political Economy is not what it seems. Global Monetary Relations in the Age of Eurodollar Futures

Group head: Dr. Andrea Binder
Funding period: 4/2021 - 4/2027
Dept. of Political and Social Sciences, International Political Economy

Predicting Abrupt Transitions and Extreme Events in the Earth System

Group Head: Dr. Niklas Boers
Funding Period: 9/2019 - 8/2025
Dept.: of Mathematics and Computer Science, Institute of Mathematics

Finding Life: Spectral Biomarkers in Atmospheres of Planets - Photochemical Evolution of Atmospheric Biomarkers on Planets in our Solar System and Beyond

Group Head: Dr. Andreas Elsäßer
Funding Period: 7/2019 - 7/2024
Dept.: of Physics, Institute of Experimental Physics

Democratic Hope

Group head: Dr. Jakob Huber
Funding period: 6/2021 - 5/2026
Dept. of Philosophy and Humanities, Institute of Philosophy

The Populism of the Precarious: Marginalization, Mobilization, and Mediatization of South Asia's Religious Minorities

Group Head: Dr. Jürgen Schaflechner
Funding period: 9/2020 - 8/2025
Dept.: of Political and Social Sciences, Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology

The Lichtenberg Professorships were conceived both as a means of attracting outstanding researchers as well as helping to establish innovative academic teaching and new lines of research at German universities. The funding initiative enables grantees to plan with greater certainty, thus creating the opportunity for independent work in their own new lines of research.

Political Sociology: Social Movements and Conflicts

Head of project: Univ.-Prof. Dr. Swen Hutter, Dept. of Political and Social Sciences
Funding period: 1/2018 - 9/2026

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