Freie Universität Berlin
Service Navigation
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.
Images of the Crisis - Affective Rhetoric of Audiovisuals
Group head: Dr. des. Jan-Hendrik Bakels
Funding period: 12/2015 - 11/2021
Dept. of Philosophy and Humanities, Film Studies
Email: jan.bakels@fu-berlin.de
ThermoNanogele: Neuartige thermoresponsive Nanogele für den zielgerichteten Wirkstofftransport und die kontrollierte Freisetzung von Zytostatika und/oder fluoreszierenden Substanzen
Group head: Dr. Marcelo Calderon
Funding period: 12/2012 - 11/2018
Dept. of Biology, Chemistry, Pharmacy, Institute for Chemistry and Biochemistry
Email: marcelo.calderon@chemie.fu-berlin.de
eBio - Meth4SysPharm-Modeling Methods for Systems Pharmacology and Application to HIV-1
Group head: Dr. Max von Kleist
Funding period: 4/2014 - 3/2019
Dept. of Mathematik and Computer Sciences, Institute for Mathematics
Email: vkleist@zedat.fu-berlin.de
Entwicklung neuer Methoden zur Erforschung der zoonotischen Vektorbiologie von Schildzecken mittels CRISPR-Technologie und künstlicher Fütterung
Group head: Dr. Ard Menzo Nijhof
Funding period: 7/2017 - 6/2022
Dept. of Veterinary Medicine, Institute of Parasitology and Tropical Veterinary Medicine
Email: ard.nijhof@fu-berlin.de
eBio - Endolysion - Integrative Systembiologie der endosomalen/lysosomalen Ionenhomöostase
Group head: Dr. Tobias Stauber
Funding period: 6/2014 - 5/2019
Dept. of Biology, Chemistry, Pharmacy, Institute for Chemistry and Biochemistry
Email: tobias.stauber@mdc-berlin.de
NanoMatFutur 2013: From Thermoresponsive Surfaces to Functional 3D Tissue in Vitro - A New Animal Testing Alternative (Surf3DTiss)
Group head: Dr. Heidemarie Weinhart
Funding period: 2/2015 - 1/2019
Dept. of Biology, Chemistry, Pharmacy, Institute for Chemistry and Biochemistry
E-Mail: marie.weinhart@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.
Quantifying Multivalent Interactions
Group head: Dr. Stephan Block
Funding period: 9/2017 - 8/2022
Dept. of Biology, Chemistry, Pharmay, Institute of Chemistry and Biochemistry
Email: stephan.block@fu-berlin.de
Neural dynamics of visual cognition
Group head: Dr. Radoslaw Cichy
Funding period: 5/2016 - 4/2021
Dept. of Education and Psychology, Biological Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience
Email: mcichy@mit.edu
Reaching the People
Group head: Dr. Valeska Huber
Funding period: 10/2017 - 9/2022
Dept. of History and Cultural Studies, Friedrich Meinecke Institute of History
Email: -
Strongly Correlated Matter
Group head: Dr. Christoph Karrasch
Funding period: 10/2015 - 9/2020
Dept. of Physics, Theoretical Physics
Email: c.karrasch@fu-berlin.de
Directionality in Engineered Quantum Systems
Group head: Dr. Anja Metelmann
Funding period: 2/2018 - 1/2023
Dept. of Physics, Experimental Physics
Email: anjam@princeton.edu
Structural Glycobiology of Interactions between Viruses and Bacteriall Polysaccharides
Group head: Dr. Ursula Neu
Funding period: 7/2018 - 4/2020
Dept. of Biology, Chemistry, and Pharmacy, Biochemistry
Email: ursula.neu@fu-berlin.de
Mediating (Semi-)Authoritarianism: The Power of the Internet in the post-Soviet World
Group head: Dr. Florian Töpfl
Funding period: 10/2014 - 9/2019
Dept. of Political and Social Sciences, Media and Communication Studies
Email: f.toepfl@fu-berlin.de
Neural mechanisms underlying vocal learning in zebra finches
Group head: Dr. Daniela Vallentin
Funding period: 7/2016 - 6/2021
Dept. of Biology, Chemistry, Pharmacy / Biology
Email: danielavallentin@gmail.com
Literature and Architecture (since 18th cent.)
Group head: Dr. Julia Albine Weber
Funding period: 2/2012 - 10/2018
Dept. of Philosophy and Humanities / Comparative Literature
Email: julia.weber@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.
Novel Species Communities: Formation, and Ecological and Evolutionary Consequences
Group head: Univ.-Prof. Dr. Jonathan Jeschke
Funding period: 12/2014 - 12/2019
Dept. of Biology, Chemistry, and Pharmacy, Institute of Biology
Email: jonathan.jeschke@gmx.net
History and culture of China with a focus on religions
Group head: Univ.-Prof. Dr. Christian Meyer
Funding period: 11/2017 - 10/2022
Dept. of History and Cultural Studies, Seminar of East Adian Studies / Sinology - China Studies
Email: ch.meyer@fu-berlin.de
More information about the Heisenberg Fellowships
Heisenberg Fellows at Freie Universität Berlin:
- Dr. Evelyn Annuß, Dept. of Philisophy and Humanities, Institute of Theater Studies
since 2017 - Dr. Sophie Armitage, Dept. of Biology, Chemistry, Pharmacy, Institute of Biology
since 2017 - PD Dr. Pavel Gurevich, Dept. of Mathematics and Computer Science, Institute of Mathematics
since 2015 - PD Dr. Miriam Knörnschild, Dept. of Biology, Chemistry, Pharmacy, Institute of Biology
since 2015 - Kay Rülling, Dept. of Mathematics and Computer Science, Institute of Mathematics
since 2014 - PD Dr. Gerhard Wunder, Dept. of Mathematics and Computer Science, Institute of Mathematics
since 2014
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.
Finding Life: Spectral Biomarkers in Planetary Atmospheres
Group head: Dr. Andreas Elsäßer
Funding period: 2/2018 - 1/2023
Dept. of Physics
Navigating the social world - A cross-cultural and developmental perspective on social norms
Group head: Dr. Patricia Kanngießer
Funding period: 10/2015 - 9/2020
Dept. of Educational Science and Psychology, Applied Developmental Psychology
The Cold War's Clash of Civilizations: The Soviet Union, the Left, and the International Origins of Islamism
Group head: Dr. Timothy Nunan
Funding period: 10/2016 - 9/2021
Dept. of History and Cultural Studies, Friedrich-Meinecke-Institut of History
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.