Max Planck Director becomes Vice President of the DFG
New Executive Committee Member
On July 7, the members of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) elected Max Planck Director Peter H. Seeberger as Vice President. The biochemist will initially serve a four-year term on the Executive Committee of the largest research funding organization and central self-governing body for science and the humanities in Germany.
Since 2009, Peter H. Seeberger is Director of the Biomolecular Systems Department at the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces in Potsdam. He is a professor of organic chemistry at Freie Universität Berlin and an honorary professor at the University of Potsdam and leads subprojects in several coordinated DFG programs. Seeberger is also a member of the Senate of the Max Planck Society. Starting in the fall of 2021, he will additionally teach as Newton-Abraham Visiting Professor at the University of Oxford. Seeberger has received numerous awards. "I am delighted to have been elected Vice President of the DFG, where I will work with all stake holders to ensure the freedom of scientists to pursue cutting edge research and in particular to help junior scientists to develop their careers," says Peter Seeberger.
His research group conducts research at the interface of chemistry and biology. In addition to discoveries in the field of synthesis of complex sugars, Peter Seeberger is developing new sugar-based vaccine candidates. Research into the material properties of complex sugars is at the center of his work. As (co)-founder of several start-up companies, he brings his basic research into application.
About the DFG
The DFG's General Assembly elects its Vice Presidents for a maximum of two four-year terms. In addition to Peter H. Seeberger, three other members were elected to the Executive Committee in July 2021.
