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Double success for chemist Gabriele Hierlmeier: she was appointed to the Young Academy of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities. And she received the ADUC Lecture Prize.
The Young Academy consists of excellent young researchers working on innovative and future-oriented topics. On 1 March 2026, it accepted four new members - including Gabriele Hierlmeier, born in 1994, who has been Junior Professor of Inorganic Molecular Chemistry and Catalysis at the University of Würzburg since 2023 and has headed an Emmy Noether Junior Research Group funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) since 2026.
Admission to the Young Academy is associated with annual funding of 12,000 euros. Those appointed are associate members of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities. This allows them to benefit from a high-ranking network that promotes exchange between disciplines and generations.
The regular funding period is three years and can be extended for up to six years. The programme is funded by the Bavarian State Ministry of Science and the Arts.
The new fellow's research
The project in which Gabriele Hierlmeier is being funded by the Young Academy is aimed at developing new titanium catalysts. Catalysts are extremely important in chemistry, among other things for the efficient conversion of small molecules into valuable synthesis building blocks.
Background: A large proportion of the fine chemicals, polymers and pharmaceuticals used today are still produced from fossil raw materials. However, the production processes are often multi-stage and complex, while direct conversion into higher-value products has so far only been possible to a limited extent.
The Würzburg chemist therefore wants to develop new titanium catalysts that can be used to build complex structures from simple starting molecules in just a few reaction steps. A central element of this is the use of visible light, which makes novel reaction mechanisms accessible.
Their strategy could open up new avenues for efficient and more sustainable catalytic transformations. Their approach also opens up new perspectives for the chemical recycling of polymers.
ADUC Lecture Award
In addition to being accepted into the Junge Kolleg, Gabriele Hierlmeier was able to celebrate another important success in March 2026: at the Chemistry Lecturers' Conference, she was awarded the ADUC Lecture Prize in Lecture Series B for her presentation "Mechanistic Control of Reductive Elimination from Titanium(IV) for Selective Alkyne Cyclodimerisation".
The ADUC is the Association of German University Professors of Chemistry and organiser of the Chemistry Lecturers' Conference. At this annual meeting, junior research group leaders from all over Germany present their latest research results.
About the Young Academy
Founded in 2010, the Young Academy of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities is recognised as an important funding format in the Bavarian scientific landscape. Many of the scholarship holders are appointed to a professorship during their membership. In addition, numerous members receive important awards, such as the Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Prize from the DFG or ERC Grants from the European Union.
According to the Junge Kolleg website, there are currently 18 fellows. In addition to Gabriele Hierlmeier, four of them come from Würzburg:
* Dr Fabian Hutmacher (Institute Human-Computer-Media)
* Junior Professor Nathalie Lackus (Pharmaceutical Biology)
* Junior Professor Maik Luu (Translational Medicine, University Hospital) and
* Dr Clara Wenz (Music Research)
Juniorprofessor Gabriele Hierlmeier, gabriele.hierlmeier@uni-wuerzburg.de
Gabriele Hierlmeier has been a member of the Young Academy of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and H ...
Source: Robert Emmerich
Copyright: University of Würzburg
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