After the first six years as a Cluster of Excellence of the Ruhr University Bochum, RESOLV started in 2019 as a new Cluster within the German Excellence Strategy. It was a fresh start, full of new results, scientific discussions, and new challenges. Here’s a list of our year’s highlights.
- RESOLV officially starts new funding period! On 1 January 2019 the RESOLV Cluster of Excellence (EXC 2033) has officially started its activities. Funded anew for the period 2019-2025 with ca. 42 Mio. EUR., RESOLV is among the 57 clusters operating within Germany’s Excellence Strategy and one of the only two new chemistry clusters. The new RESOLV is hosted by the Ruhr University Bochum and the TU Dortmund University and comprises more than 200 scientists - including researchers from the University of Duisburg Essen, the Fraunhofer Institute for Environmental, Safety, and Energy Technology UMSICHT (based in Oberhausen), the Max Plank Institutes for Coal and Iron Research (in Düsseldorf and Mülheim an der Ruhr, respectively).
- New research directions! The aim of the new project is to investigate the role of the solvent in chemical processes beyond normal conditions, thermal equilibria or homogeneous phases. Scientists are looking for answers to fundamental questions, such as the origin of life, but they will also deal with concrete applications, including renewable energy technologies.
- Publications in peer-reviewed journals surpassed 1300! Publications on referred journals since 2012 surpassed the number 1300, with more than 230 involving a collaboration between at least 2 RESOLV groups. RESOLV scientists answered questions such as: How do acids behave in ultracold interstellar space? How do proteins gather or spread with pressure? And is it possible to achieve high reaction rates in catalysis without precious metals?
- Technology transfer for the future! In 2019, RESOLV launched the ‘Start4Chem’ start-up centre. The incubator is part of the Worldfactory Start-up Centre, for the construction of which the RUB is receiving state funding totalling more than 20 Mio. EUR. One of Start4Chem's goals is to integrate entrepreneurship topics into scientific education: A new series of lectures by Prof. Kristina Tschulik, initiator of Start4Chem, will make students and doctoral candidates at the RUB familiarize with various aspects of business start-ups.
- More career paths for women! RESOLV is committed to women scientists. Since 2012, the cluster has increased the number of female professors from 4 to 11. At RESOLV, women benefit from network events such as the "2019 MUST/RESOLV Gender and Science Meeting". The meeting was organized by RESOLV together with the Zurich-based research program "Molecular Ultrafast Science and Technology" (NFS-MUST). The event took place in Bochum and offered more than 40 men and women the opportunity to discuss how to advance gender equality at university. The highlight was a workshop on unconscious bias in science.
Stay tuned in 2020 for the next RESOLV highlights!