Steep carrier for polymer chemist: Andreas Walther accepted a professorship in Freiburg

Andreas Walther is remarkably successful in developing complex bioinspired material systems. The polymer chemist headed a junior research group at DWI from 2011 until November 2016 and was now appointed Professor for Functional Polymers at the University of Freiburg. In Freiburg, he starts his new research group ‘A3BMS: Adaptive, Active and Autonomous Bioinspired Material Systems’ at the Institute for Macromolecular Chemistry. His long-term research motivation is to develop material systems that show characteristics of living matter.

Walther finished his PhD thesis in 2008 at the University of Bayreuth. For two years he then worked as a postdoc at the Aalto University in Helsinki before starting a junior research group at DWI in 2011. During his time at the DWI, he received the Bayer Early Excellence in Science Award and the Reimund Stadler Award of the German Chemical Society (GDCh). He is funded through the NanoMatFutur initiative of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research. Furthermore, was recently awarded a Starting Grant of the European Science Council (ERC).

DWI attaches great importance to the promotion of young scientists on all steps of their career. A number of highly ambitioned and talented junior researchers get the chance to start a junior research group at DWI and build their own reputation. They have the freedom to form and further develop their research ideas and are then encouraged to apply for own funding. Being involved in the work of the DWI scientific board and the institute’s overall work, the group leaders can prepare for future steps of their scientific career.

Andreas Walther did not only have his own research group at DWI but also coordinated the research program ‘Aqua Materials’, one of the five DWI research programs spanning across all research groups at the institute and focusing on water-containing and water-based materials.