Ulm University is a young research uni-versity with a focus on natural sciences, medicine and technology. Located in an economically strong region the University with its more than 10,000 students offers a dynamic work environment with attractive networking and development prospects.

Ulm University invites applications for a

W1 Professorship for Chemical Process Engineering of Light-Driven Reactions (Junior Professorship) (m/f/d)

at the Institute of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Natural Sciences, starting at the earliest possible date.

The University is seeking to increase the proportion of women in research and teaching and particularly encourage qualified female scientists to apply for this position. Severely disabled applicants with equal aptitude will be given preferential consideration.

The professorship anchors the process engineering research of the Collaborative Research Centre/Transregio 234 “CATALIGHT” at the Ulm site for the long term. Recruitment takes place as a temporary civil servant or as an employee, generally for a fixed term of 6 years. An extension is not possible except in the cases of § 45 Para 6 LHG.

The institute and its environment
The Institute of Chemical Engineering works on reaction and separation engineering, on topics of energy conversion and on connecting experiment and model.

The site offers close links to the Cluster of Excellence POLiS (Post Lithium Storage), the Green Energy Campus, the CELEST research platform, the Helmholtz Institute Ulm and the Centre for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research. They open up points of contact with photoelectrochemistry and electrochemical energy storage.

Your responsibilities
You represent the chemical process engineering of light-driven processes in research and teaching:

• You build your own research group and supervise doctoral researchers and students
• You help shape the process engineering work within CataLight and cooperate with the research groups of the Collaborative Research Centre
• You acquire third-party funding independently and take part in collaborative projects
• You develop process engineering research together with the existing groups, for example on multifunctional reactors or on separating reaction products during operation
• You contribute your own topics to the cooperative initiatives of the university
• You take part in the general tasks of the institute and in academic self-governance

Your research profile
We expect an internationally connectable profile in the chemical process engineering of light-driven reactions covering one or more of the following fields:

• macroscopic kinetics of light-driven catalysis and the quantitative description of mass and heat transfer, including radiation and photon transport, computational fluid dynamics, and model-based methods
• development and design of reactors, in particular for operation under natural solar radiation, including the solar collectors
• development and design of scalable photochemical and photoelectrochemical reactors
• development and design of reactors with integrated separation of oxidation and reduction products
• particle technology and mechanical process engineering of particulate photocatalyst systems, including catalyst synthesis, dispersion, suspension, solid transport in multiphase flows, and solid-liquid separation and recycling of particles by filtration, sedimentation, or membrane processes
• methods at the interface of machine learning and data-driven reactor and process optimisation, based on sustainable, FAIR-oriented research data management

We would also welcome the combination of experimental and theoretical approaches as well as experience in interdisciplinary collaboration and in supervising academic work.

On your career stage
Research profiles differ in how far they are developed at this career stage. Please apply even if you meet only part of the points listed. We assess your profile as a whole and take into account periods of family care, caring responsibilities, and other interruptions of an academic career. Please note such periods in your curriculum vitae.

Your teaching
You represent process intensification of light-driven processes and particle technology in the bachelor’s and master’s degree programmes. Contributing to teaching in chemistry is welcome. The teaching load follows the teaching obligations regulation of the state of Baden-Württemberg.

What we offer

• an independent professorship at the Institute of Chemical Engineering with its own basic resources and integration into the running Collaborative Research Centre CataLight
• an institute that brings reaction and separation engineering groups together under one roof and shares experimental infrastructure
• the Dual Career Service of the Gender Equality Office, which supports partners in finding career opportunities in the region
• the Family Service, offering childcare, holiday programmes, and advice on combining work and family
• a Welcome Centre for international newcomers.

Employment requirements are completed university studies as well as teaching aptitude, a doctoral degree and special aptitude for academic work, which is usually demonstrated by the outstanding quality of a doctorate (§ 51 Abs. 2 LHG).If the applicant has been employed as an academic staff member before or after completion of the doctorate, the combined duration of the doctoral and employment phases should generally not exceed six years. Extensions granted under § 2(5), sentence 1, nos. 1 and 3–5 of the German Academic Fixed-Term.

Seize the opportunity and join us in shaping the future of the University!

> Reference no.: 26134 > Applicaton deadline: 30.09.2026

Questions about the professorship and the institute are answered by Prof. Dr. Alexander Kühne, phone +49 731 50-22870. Questions about the procedure and about equal opportunity are answered by the of Ulm University.

We look forward to your application via our online application portal