Prof. Dr. Martina Havenith, spokesperson of the Cluster of Excellence "Ruhr Explores Solvation" (RESOLV), was appointed by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation in a competitive procedure as a scout to select international scientific talents for a fellowship. The Henriette Herz Scouting Program aims to attract outstanding research talents from abroad for joint research projects in Germany. "The support of young scientists is a competition for the best minds. Only if we can offer young researchers an excellent environment, as in RESOLV, will we continue to be successful," explains Martina Havenith. The young researchers that she selects will come to Germany for a residency and conduct research at Martina Havenith's chair at the Ruhr University in Bochum.
"In order to utilize the full breadth of available potential for science, it is important to recruit international candidates at an early stage of their careers, especially female candidates, who are still underrepresented in science," says Martina Havenith. The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation is keen to make its network more diverse, so one condition is that the first proposal must be for a female scientist. Martina Havenith has a good feel for promising scientific talent. Of the early career researcher funded in RESOLV, 21 now hold professorships. Six former postdocs from her research group at the Chair of Physical Chemistry II are now working as professors worldwide.