Emmy-Noether Scholarship for Dr. Nowak-Król

Agnieszka Nowak-Król started her research at the University of Würzburg in 2014 as an Alexander-von-Humboldt Postdoc in the research group of Prof. Dr. Frank Würthner. Before that, she completed her master's thesis at the University of Technology, Rzeszów, Poland, and received her PhD in 2013 at the Polish Academy of Sciences in the research group of Professor Gryko in Warsaw. Since the end of 2017, she has been a postdoctoral researcher at the Center for Nanosystems Chemistry, where she and her junior research group conduct research in the field of π-conjugated boron compounds for photovoltaics and organic electronics. In this context, she applied for the Emmy Noether program.

The Emmy Noether Program was founded in 1997 by the German Research Foundation (DFG). Postdocs and temporary employed junior professors (at an early stage of their academic careers) can apply for the scholarship. Requirements for a successful application are an excellent research project and publications in internationally renowned journals. According to the experts and the panel, all these criteria were met by Agnieszka Nowak-Król.

The goal of the project with the title "Functional Chiral Four-Coordinate Boron Compounds" is the synthesis of helical-chiral organoboron compounds by a novel modular synthesis approach. This method provides access to highly complex fully π-conjugated molecules with systematically modifiable properties. The organoboron compounds are used in organic solar cells and organic thin-film transistors. In addition, the molecules are examined for chiral-induced spin selectivity. The new class of materials for organic electronics should allow a better understanding of the processes of charge and spin transport in organic semiconductors.

The aim of the program is to support especially qualified junior scientists to qualify for a university professorship over a period of six years by leading a junior research group during this kind of project. Nowak-Król will be provided with 1.5 million euros.

We are very happy for Dr. Nowak-Król and wish her all the best for her research project!

Interested and highly motivated candidates for a PhD position as well as for Bachelor's and Master's theses should contact A. Nowak-Król personally or by email:

Dr. Agnieszka Nowak-Król, Center for Nanosystems Chemistry (CNC), Universität Würzburg, T +49 931 31 83774, agnieszka.nowak-krol@uni-wuerzburg.de