Funding for chemistry education
Greater data literacy and digital tools
- 27.05.2026
Chemistry education at the University of Duisburg-Essen is becoming more digital. With funding of almost €100,000 from the Chemical Industry Fund, the faculty is developing a new compulsory module on data analysis, digital laboratory processes, and artificial intelligence. Students will learn the theoretical fundamentals and experience how modern research utilises digital tools through practical laboratory experiments.
The new module, ‘Digitalisation in Chemistry’, will be compulsory for Bachelor's degree students in Chemistry from the fourth semester onwards. Students of related subjects, such as Water Science, Biology or Materials Science, are also welcome to enrol.
The faculty's concept includes practical 'live labs' equipped with sensors, laboratory robots, and mini-reactors. The latter digitally record and analyse chemical processes automatically. “This allows students to learn how modern research laboratories operate and how data can be processed directly from experiments,” explains project leader Dr Gerrit Renner, who is developing the module with his team. “We intend to make the digital teaching materials freely available by the summer of 2027, so they can be used in universities across the country,” adds Prof. Dr Torsten Schmidt, dean of the faculty, elaborating on the concept.
A total of 19 universities and four colleges are set to benefit from the €1.6 million in funding provided by the Chemical Industry Fund to support teaching. The aim is to better prepare students for the demands of an increasingly digitalised chemical and pharmaceutical industry. “The selected projects stand out for their innovative teaching concepts. They are diverse, of a high standard, and they demonstrate just how much the requirements of a chemistry degree are changing,” the foundation explains in its press release (German only).
A key element of the funding scheme is the contribution from the universities themselves: like all other funded universities, the University of Duisburg-Essen will provide its own funds, amounting to 20 per cent of the grant, in addition to the scheme's funding.
Image: Prof. Dr Torsten C. Schmidt in the laboratory with PhD students Sarah Rockel and Robert Marks.
Further Information:
Dr. Gerrit Renner, Faculty of Chemistry, +49 201/18 3-6779, gerrit.renner@uni-due.de