The German Research Foundation (DFG) has elected new Vice Presidents: At its session on Wednesday, 2 July 2025, during the DFG’s annual meeting in Hamburg, the General Assembly elected the economist Professor Dr. Caren Sureth-Sloane to the Executive Committee. Alongside the newly elected Vice President, the physicist Professor Dr. Karin Jacobs and UniSysCat member Professor Dr. Peter H. Seeberger were confirmed for a second term in office. UniSysCat congratulates all three on their election!
During his first term as Vice President, Seeberger chaired the selection committee for the Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Prizes. He also chaired the committee for the German-Israeli Project Cooperation programme and represented the Executive Committee on the Audit Committee. Peter H. Seeberger is director at the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces in Potsdam and the founding director of the Center for the Transformation of Chemistry (CTC) in Delitzsch and Merseburg – a new major research centre that aims to drive the transformation of the chemical industry towards a circular economy.
We are particularly pleased about the election of Peter Seeberger - not only because he contributes to catalysis research as UniSysCat group leader, but also because he is strongly committed to the transformation of chemistry towards a sustainable industry. At the CTC, he is driving forward research for the transition of today's chemistry to a sustainable circular economy. On May 15 of this year, six leading institutions, including UniSysCat and the CTC, launched an initiative for sustainable chemistry and founded the “Netzwerk Grüne Chemie Ost”. In doing so, they are creating an innovation ecosystem that combines the transformation of the chemical industry with the challenges of structural change in eastern Germany.
The Vice Presidents are elected by the General Assembly for a maximum of two terms of office of four years each. They stand in for the President if she is unable to fulfil her duties. In addition, they are guest attendees at the meetings of the Senate and of the Joint Committee, the former being the DFG’s highest scientific body and the latter its central decision-making body. Together with the entire Executive Committee, the three elected Vice Presidents will continue to support the DFG in its mission to advance science in Germany.