The Faculty of Chemistry at the University of Leipzig, in collaboration with the Leibniz Institute of Surface Engineering (IOM), has successfully secured funding from the Chemical Industry Fund (FCI) to improve teaching. The goal of the funded project is to establish innovative teaching formats for the training of chemists at the University of Leipzig.

The application was initiated by Professors Ralf Tonner-Zech, Kirsten Zeitler, and Benjamin Dietzek-Ivanšić, the scientific director of the IOM. The three-year project aims to integrate methods of artificial intelligence, data science, and digital skills more deeply into the chemistry curriculum. This is intended to strengthen students’ skills in these future-critical areas and prepare them for the demands of an increasingly digitized chemical and pharmaceutical industry.

In its latest funding announcement, the FCI highlights the growing importance of data science methods for chemistry and pharmacy. Nationwide, 19 universities and 4 colleges are benefiting from the funding initiative, which is endowed with a total of nearly 1.6 million euros - including the University of Leipzig.

Funding is provided for teaching concepts that permanently integrate data science methods into education, such as artificial intelligence in data analysis and process optimization, laboratory automation, practical programming courses, or electronic lab journals. Many of the projects are interdisciplinary in nature and specifically combine chemistry with computer science and statistics.

With this joint teaching project, the University of Leipzig and the IOM are making an important contribution to the further development of future-oriented science education and to the promotion of digital skills among the next generation of scientists. A particular strength of the joint application is the integration of the IOM’s robust base of interesting research data into student education at the faculty.