Macromolecular Science

Re­search and devel­opment of syn­thetic macro­mole­cules, multi­func­tional poly­mers and biom­acro­mole­cules with respect to com­plex struc­ture for­mation are in­dispen­sable to cope with the chal­lenges of the 21st century includ­ing mobili­ty, en­ergy, infor­mation, security and medi­cine. Sys­tems based on mac­romo­lecular materi­als are essen­tial for key tech­nolo­gies and assure contin­uous pro­gress in com­munica­tion, quality of life, com­fort, health and safety of the society.

The Elite Graduate Program at a glance

DegreeCertificate
Duration of studyFour semesters parallel to Master and PhD-programs
Place of studyBayreuth
Admission requirementsBachelor's degree in the research fields of chemistry, biochemistry, polymer and colloid chemistry, physics, biophysics, biology and material sciences
Language of instructionEnglish
Application deadlineAugust 15th
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Begin of studiesWinter semester
HeadProf. Dr. Hans-Werner Schmidt
CoordinatorDr. Klaus Kreger
Contact the coordinator
Further informationWebsite Macromolecular Science

An excellent additional scientific education

The Elite Grad­uate Pro­gram Mac­romo­lecular Sci­ence pro­motes pro­fes­sional­ly and per­sonal­ly excel­lent stu­dents and doc­toral can­di­dates in the fields of poly­mer chem­istry, col­loid chem­istry, mate­rials chem­istry and catal­ysis, bio­chem­istry and mo­lecular biolo­gy, phys­ics, bio­phys­ics and mate­rials sci­ence. In addi­tion to a broad and deep educa­tion in their core sub­ject, stu­dents and doc­toral can­di­dates are ex­pected to ac­quire addi­tional inter­disci­pli­nary quali­fica­tions in neigh­boring disci­plines.

The Elite Grad­uate Pro­gram has a modu­lar struc­ture and in­cludes the start mod­ule "Modern Re­search Topics in Mac­romo­lecular Sci­ence".


In addi­tion, it offers two ad­vanced teach­ing mod­ules on specif­ic top­ics of mac­romo­lecular re­search, con­sisting of lec­tures, semi­nars and work­shops. An inter­disci­pli­nary intern­ship as well as the mod­ules "From Re­search to Publi­cati­on" and "Man­age­ment Train­ing" and a three-month re­search stay abroad com­plete the excel­lent addi­tional scien­tific educa­tion of the Elite Grad­uate Pro­gram "Mac­romo­lecular Sci­ence".

Portrait photo: Prof. Dr. Hans-Werner Schmidt

Polymers are the material class of the 21st century. The Elite Graduate Program “Macromolecular Science” offers a unique opportunity for interdisciplinary additional training in one of the highly innovative areas of material science and life sciences.

Prof. Dr. Hans-Werner Schmidt

Owing to the modu­lar struc­ture, the in­tense men­toring and the flexi­ble time schedule, which is in­divid­ually adapted to the stu­dents, the Elite Grad­uate Pro­gram can be com­pleted paral­lel to a mas­ter's or PhD pro­gram with­out lead­ing to an exten­sion of the total period of study. All teach­ing mod­ules were and will be spe­cially de­signed, elab­orated and fur­ther devel­oped for the Elite Grad­uate Pro­gram "Mac­romo­lecular Sci­ence".

Snippets of the program

Welcome Day

The Elite Graduate Program "Macromolecular Science" welcomes its new students.

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A group of young people converses with an older man.

Networking in Bayreuth

Bayreuth students discuss with internationally renowned re-searchers in the field of polymer science.

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Gruppenbild: Eine Gruppe junger Studierender sowie der Seminarleiter sind in einem Seminarraum zu einem Gruppenfoto aufgestellt. Jonglierbälle liegen vor Ihnen auf dem Boden, manche der Studierenden halten Jonglierbälle in ihren Händen.

Snippets of the research

A closer look at Geckos foot

Jens Neubauer, alumnus of the Elite Graduate Program "Macromolecular Science", has been working within his doctoral thesis on force sensors based on polymers.

RfaH as transformer protein

Philipp Zuber, alumnus of the Elite Graduate Program "Macromolecular Science", is currently doing his doctorate on the regulation of bacterial transcription by NusG proteins.

From spider silk to tissues

Vanessa J. Neubauer, alumnus of the Elite Study Program Macromolecular Science, develops in her PhD studies spider silk-based scaffolds for regenerative medicine.