IMPACT DAYKeynote and Panel
Prof. Dr. Eva Blasco
Institute of Molecular Systems Engineering and Advanced Materials
Eva Blasco completed her PhD studies at the University of Zaragoza (Spain). Subsequently, she was awarded an Alexander von Humboldt Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in 2014, which she used to conduct her research in the groups of Prof. C. Barner-Kowollik (Polymer Chemistry) and Prof. M. Wegener (Applied Physics) at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). Subsequently, she served as a group leader at the same institution.
In October 2020, she was appointed junior professor at Heidelberg University and in January 2023, she was appointed W3 professor at the newly established Institute of Molecular Systems Engineering and Advanced Materials at the Faculty of Engineering.
Furthermore, Prof. Dr. Eva Blasco is project leader (PI) in the Cluster of Excellence 3DMM2O. Her research interests include the development of new functional materials for 3D/4D printing.
Prof. Dr. Silke Hertel
Institute of Educational Sciences
Silke Hertel studied psychology at the Technical University of Darmstadt, where she also received her doctorate. Afterwards, she was a post-doc at the Leibniz Institute for Human Development and Educational Information in Frankfurt and junior professor for Adaptive Learning Environments at the Goethe University Frankfurt and at the interdisciplinary IDeA Center. Since 2013, she has been Professor of Personal Competencies in the School Context at the University of Heidelberg.
Prof. Dr. Barabara Mittler
Institute of Sinology, Center for Asian Studies and Transcultural Studies (CATS)
Barabara Mittler studied Sinology, Musicology and Japanese at Oxford and Heidelberg. She has been Professor of Sinology in Heidelberg since 2004, where she co-founded the Cluster of Excellence “Asia and Europe in a Global Context” (from 2007) and, building on this, the Center for Asian Studies and Transcultural Studies (CATS, opening 2019) and the China School Academy (since 2019).
Prof. Dr. Stephan Urban
Center for Molecular Biology and Heidelberg University Hospital
Prof. Dr. Stephan Urban has held one of the first professorships for “Translational Virology” at the German Center for Infection Research (DZIF) since 2014. He is also head of the Hepatitis B Research Group at the Center for Infectiology, Molecular Virology at Heidelberg University. His scientific career began with studies in chemistry and biochemistry in Tübingen and a subsequent doctorate at the Max Planck Institute for Biochemistry in Martinsried near Munich. For his habilitation, he then moved to the Center for Molecular Biology in Heidelberg (ZMBH) and in 2001 to the Heidelberg University Hospital.
Prof. Dr. Matthias Weidemüller
Institute for Physics at Heidelberg University und Prorector for Innovation and Transfer at Ruperto Carola
Physicist Prof. Dr Matthias Weidemüller is Vice-Rector for Innovation and Transfer at Heidelberg University. He leads the Quantum Dynamics of Atomic and Molecular Systems Research Group at the Institute for Physics at Heidelberg University.
His responsibilities as Vice-Rector include promoting knowledge transfer as well as initiating cooperations and partnerships with businesses and political and social institutions.
Dr. Jan-Martin Wiarda
Freelance Journalist und Blogger for Economics and Education
Dr. Jan-Martin Wiarda, born in 1976, is a freelance journalist and blogger for education and science. From January 2013 to July 2015, he was Head of Communications and Media and Press Spokesman for the Helmholtz Association. From 2004 to 2012 Wiarda was editor and most recently deputy head of the education department “Chancen” of the weekly newspaper “DIE ZEIT”. He studied political science, economics and sociology in Munich, attended the German School of Journalism there and then moved to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA, where he continued his journalism studies.
