Sebastian Seiffert is full professor for physical chemistry of polymers at Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz. He obtained his PhD from Clausthal University of Technology (2007), with research on chain dynamics in semidilute polymer solutions and gels in the group of Wilhelm Oppermann. After spending another year in Clausthal as a lecturer on polymer physical chemistry (2008), Sebastian became a postdoc in the group of Dave Weitz at Harvard as a fellow of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina (2009–2010), researching on microfluidics and microgels. Upon returning to Germany, he headed a junior research group at Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (2011–2014) as a Liebig fellow of the German Fund of the Chemical Industry (FCI). His first faculty appointment was as associate professor for supramolecular polymer materials at Freie Universität Berlin (2014–2016). In 2016, he followed a call to Mainz to take over the chair of physical chemistry of polymers formerly occupied by Manfred Schmidt [1995–2015], Helmuth Möhwald [1987–1993], and Erhard Fischer [1966–1983]. Sebastian was and is spokesperson of the DFG Research Unit FOR 2811 (2019–2025), the BMBF Project HydroDeSal (2021–2024), and the DFG Collaborative Research Center SFB 1552 (since 2023). He is also author of several educational textbooks on physical chemistry and polymer science.
Sebastian’s work was honored with the Reimund Stadler Award of the German Chemical Society (GDCh), an annual award by the Association of German University Professors in Chemistry (ADUC), a young investigator award by the Polymer Networks Group (PNG), and the Ars-legendi Faculty Award for excellence in teaching by the Association for the Promotion of Science and Humanities in Germany (Stifterferband für die Deutsche Wissenschaft).
Personal blog: https://sebastian-seiffert.net
Portrait Articles
„Trotz Klima-Albträumen nicht verbittert“
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (03.04.2023)
„Lieber Brücken bauen“
Publik Forum (03/2023)
Podcasts
„Muss die Wissenschaft lauter werden?“
Let’s Talk Change (09.12.2022)
„Es ist ein Klimanotstand, Baby!“
Carls Zukunft der Woche (17.11.2022)
„Vom Hörsaal in den Alltag – wie hilft uns Wissenschaft ganz praktisch?“
Minds of Mainz (22.07.2022)
„Wie kann Transformation gelingen?“
Cli:mate (28.06.2022)
„Klimakrise ist jetzt: Muss Wissenschaft lauter werden?“
Interview Campusradio Mainz (27.05.2022)
„Die Wissenschaft zum Klima, der Welt und dem ganzen Rest.“
Carls Zukunft der Woche (07.10.2021)
„Wissenschaft ins Parlament?“
Sonntagstalk Antenne Mainz (03.09.2021)