Junior research groups at Freie Universität Berlin
By establishing junior research groups, the university offers outstanding young scholars and researchers the opportunity to conduct independent research and build up their own working groups. In recent years, a number of funding institutions have established programs of this kind that include participation from academics and scientists at Freie Universität Berlin.
Here you will find further information on the current conditions for Junior Research Group Leaders at Freie Universität Berlin.
Biodegradable Multifunctional Nanosystems for Pathogen Blockade and Infection prevention (PathoBlock)
Group head: Dr. Ievgen DonskyiFunding period: 2/2023 - 1/2028
Dept. of Biology, Chemistry, Pharmacy (SupraFab)
Email: ievgen.donskyi@fu-berlin.de
Health- and Climate-related Correlates of Mobility Behaviors under Current and Future Climate Conditions (AMBER)
Group head: Dr. Jan KellerFunding period: 3/2023 - 2/2028
Dept. of Education and Psychology (Health Psychology)
Email: jan.keller@fu-berlin.de
Biomimetic Multivalent Mucin Peptides for Mucolytic and Antiviral Applications
Group head: Dr. Daniel Christian LausterFunding period: 1/2021 - 12/2025
Dept. of Biology, Chemistry, Pharmacy (Organic Chemistry)
Email: daniel.lauster@fu-berlin.de
The Emmy Noether Programme supports researchers in achieving independence at an early stage of their scientific careers. Postdocs gain the qualifications required for a university teaching career during a DFG-funded period, usually lasting five years, in which they lead their own independent junior research group.
As a rule, researchers who have acquired between two and four years of postdoctoral research experience are eligible to apply. Applicants must have international research experience.
Microscale and Nanoscale Physics of Topological Metals
Group head: Dr. Maxim BreitkreizFunding period: 9/2023 - 8/2026
Dept. of Physics, Institute of Theoretical Physics
Email: breitkr@zedat.fu-berlin.de
Mythical Literary Works of the Old Babylonian Period as Epistemic Artefacts - as well as the Question of a "Philosophy before the Greeks"
Group head: Dr. Gösta GabrielFunding period: 10/2019 - 9/2025
Dept. of History and Cultural Studies, Institute of Ancient Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations
Email: goesta.gabriel@fu-berlin.de
The Circuit Variability Underlying Drosophila Behavioural Individuality
Group head: Dr. Gerit LinneweberFunding period: 1/2021 - 4/2027
Dept. of Biology, Chemistry, Pharmacy, Institute of Biology
Email: gerit.linneweber@fu-berlin.de
Critical Agency – An Ethnographically Informed Political Epistemology of Critique
Group head: Dr. Deborah MühlebachFunding period: 4/2025 - 3/2031
Dept. of Philosophy and Humanities, Institute of Philosophy
Email: d.muehlebach@fu-berlin.de
Oxygenic photosynthesis at its energy limit: Membrane and protein remodelling for growth in the near infrared
Group head: Dr. Dennis NürnbergFunding period: 4/2020 - 6/2026
Dept. of Physics, Institute of Experimental Physics
Email: dennis.nuernberg@fu-berlin.de
Coherent Highly Enantioselective Molecular Manipulation enabled by Multiphoton Interactions with Structured Light
Group head: Dr. Andrés Felipe OrdóñezFunding period: 2/2025 - 2/2030
Dept. of Physics, Institute of Theoretical Physics
Patterns of Knowledge Circulation: Tradition and Reception of Jewish Esotericism in Manuscript and Printing in Early Modern East Central Europe
Group head: Dr. Agata PaluchFunding period: 4/2019 - 3/2026
Dept. of History and Cultural Studies, Institute of Jewish Studies
Email: paluch@fu-berlin.de
Context-dependent Modulation of Memory Systems
Group head: Dr. Lisa ScheunemannFunding period: 10/2022 - 9/2025
Dept. of Biology, Chemistry, Pharmacy, Institute of Biology
Email: lisa.scheunemann@fu-berlin.de
Luminescence Upconversion Nanoscopy - LUNA
Group head: Sven Niclas Tebogo MüllerFunding period: 4/2025 - 3/2028
Dept. of Physics, Institute of Experimental Physics
Email: niclassvenm@zedat.fu-berlin.de
The Heisenberg Programme is directed primarily at those researchers who have qualified for professorship via the Emmy Noether Programme, DFG staff positions, private-sector research or non-faculty academic positions. The target group also includes junior professors who have received positive evaluations, those who have achieved their habilitation or equivalent, and German researchers returning from abroad, as well as appropriately qualified foreign researchers looking to pursue careers in Germany.
Quantifying the Action of Single Macromolecules and Macromolecular Complexes Using Optical Microscopy
Group Head: Prof. Dr. Stephan BlockFunding period: 7/2024 - 6/2029
Dept. of Biology, Chemistry, Pharmacy, Institute of Chemistry and Biochemistry
Structural Biology and Biochemical Insights into Posttranscriptional Silencing of Eukaryotic mRNA
Group Head: Prof. Dr. Sutapa Chakrabarti, PhDFunding period: 7/2022 - 5/2027
Dept. of Biology, Chemistry, Pharmacy, Institute of Chemistry and Biochemistry
Ecological Behavioural Economics: Bringing Consumer Manipulation to Animal Behaviour
Group Head: PD Dr. Tomer CzaczkesFunding period: 6/2025 - 3/2026
Dept. of Biology, Chemistry, Pharmacy, Institut of Biology
Studies on the Materialization of Rule, Elite Networks and Intersections of Religions
Group head: Prof. Dr. Babett Edelmann-SingerFunding period: 9/2023 - 7/2025
Dept. of History and Cultural Sudies, Friedrich-Meinecke-Institute of History, Ancient History
Chemical Functionalization of 2D Materials beyond Graphene
Group head: Prof. Dr. Christian PappFunding period: 5/2023 - 4/2026
Dept. of Biology, Chemistry, Pharmacy, Institute of Chemistry and Biochemistry
Heisenberg Fellows at Freie Universität Berlin:
- Dr. Evelyn Annuß, Dept. of Philisophy and Humanities, Institute of Theater Studies
2018 - Dr. Sophie Armitage, Dept. of Biology, Chemistry, Pharmacy, Institute of Biology
2017 - PD Dr. Björn Brembs, Dept. of Biology, Chemistry, Pharmacy (Left FU Berlin)
2009 - Dr. Alexander Dinges, Dept. of Philosophy and Humanities
2025 - PD Dr. Pavel Gurevich, Dept. of Mathematics and Computer Science
2018 - PD Dr. Michael Haumann, Dept. of Physics
2013 - Dr. Simon Koschut, Dept. of Political and Social Sciences (Left FU Berlin)
2019 - PD Dr. Johanna Pink, Dept. of History and Cultural Sciences (Left FU Berlin)
2010 - PD Dr. Daniel Sebastiani, Dept. of Physics (Left FU Berlin)
2009 - Ulrich Steiner, Dept. of Biology, Chemistry, Pharmacy, Institute of Biology
2020 - Dr. Aiko Wagner, Dept. of Political and Social Sciences, Center for Political Sociology of Germany
2022 - PD Dr. Cornelia Wild, Dept. of Philosophy and Humanities (Left FU Berlin)
2019 - PD Dr. Cornel Zwierlein, Dept. of History and Cultural Studies, Friedrich Meinecke-Institute of History
2020
A 'Freigeist' fellow: for the Volkswagen Foundation this means a young researcher with a strong personality, a creative mind, an ability to identify and use freedom, dedicated to overcoming resistance. If necessary, he or she will be a free spirit, enjoying the unexpected, even unexpected difficulties. A 'Freigeist' fellow opens up new horizons and combines critical analysis with imagination and innovative solutions. By thinking ahead the 'Freigeist' fellow will act as a catalyst in overcoming existing disciplinary, institutional and even national boundaries.
The International Political Economy is not what it seems. Global Monetary Relations in the Age of Eurodollar Futures
Group head: Dr. Andrea BinderFunding period: 4/2021 - 4/2027
Dept. of Political and Social Sciences, International Political Economy
Predicting Abrupt Transitions and Extreme Events in the Earth System
Group Head: Dr. Niklas BoersFunding Period: 9/2019 - 8/2025
Dept.: of Mathematics and Computer Science, Institute of Mathematics
Finding Life: Spectral Biomarkers in Atmospheres of Planets - Photochemical Evolution of Atmospheric Biomarkers on Planets in our Solar System and Beyond
Group Head: Dr. Andreas ElsäßerFunding Period: 7/2019 - 7/2025
Dept.: of Physics, Institute of Experimental Physics
Democratic Hope
Group head: Dr. Jakob HuberFunding period: 6/2021 - 5/2026
Dept. of Philosophy and Humanities, Institute of Philosophy
The Populism of the Precarious: Marginalization, Mobilization, and Mediatization of South Asia's Religious Minorities
Group Head: Dr. Jürgen SchaflechnerFunding period: 9/2020 - 8/2025
Dept.: of Political and Social Sciences, Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology
The Lichtenberg Professorships were conceived both as a means of attracting outstanding researchers as well as helping to establish innovative academic teaching and new lines of research at German universities. The funding initiative enables grantees to plan with greater certainty, thus creating the opportunity for independent work in their own new lines of research.
Political Sociology: Social Movements and Conflicts
Head of project: Univ.-Prof. Dr. Swen Hutter, Dept. of Political and Social SciencesFunding period: 1/2018 - 9/2026