Competence & Enhancement

The following information can be found on our team site.


The main ambition of the Competence Enhancement Team is to enable female researchers at the faculty of Technical Chemistry by enhancing and sharing specific extracurricular knowledge. Each year we organize 3-4 free of charge seminars in English and German with highly qualified trainers, that are custom-built for female researchers associated to TU Wien.


A survey among women of different research groups showed, that there’s high interest in additional hard and soft skill courses. Hence, with our program we focus on an equal balance of hard skills (trainings in programs like Origin, Python, etc.) AND soft skills required in leadership and industry (rhetorical skills, project management, etc.) and the transition from university to industry (job application training for chemists).


Finally, it is our goal to connect female scientists at the TU with our courses and to motivate them to share their knowledge and benefit from each other. Therefore, together with the Identity & Diversity Team we organize a Running Training once a week from spring to autumn and successfully took part as a team in the Frauenlauf 2021 on October 5th and reached the 5th place! 


Courses


Upcoming Events

If you would like to know more about future seminars follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn. You can also order our newsletter here.

If you are interested in actively contributing and shaping the Competence & Enhancement Team contact us: ce_femchem@list.tuwien.ac.at

Hope to see you soon at one of our next workshops and events!

Upcoming Courses 2023

-> look here

Team


Board

Dipl.Ing.in Antonella Fantoni (speaker)

PhD student @ the Institute of Applied Synthetic Chemistry

Antonella studied Technical Chemistry and is currently working as a PhD student under the supervision of Prof. Robert Liska, Prof. Aleksander Ovsianikov and Dr. Stefan Baudis. Her focus lies on the development of dynamic biomaterials for retinal regeneration.

contact: antonella.fantoni@tuwien.ac.at


Dipl.Ing.in Tina Gurmann

PhD student @ the Institute of Applied Synthetic Chemistry

Tina is currently working on her PhD thesis in the Research Group Polymer Chemistry and Technology under supervision of Prof. Robert Liska and Dr. Stefan Baudis. As her interest in biomaterials was already aroused during her master studies, she continued her research in this field with the investigation of 3D-printable polymeric materials for bone regeneration.

contact: tina.gurmann@tuwien.ac.at


Dipl.Ing.in Miriam Zintl

PhD student @ the Institute of Applied Synthetic Chemistry

Miriam studied Chemistry and Technology of Materials and now pursues her PhD in the field of biomaterials for medical applications. She works together with the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute to develop PVA-based materials for hemostasis. 

contact: miriam.zintl@tuwien.ac.at


Members

Dr.in Katharina Ehrmann, MSc

Postdoctoral researcher @ the Institute of Applied Synthetic Chemistry

Katharina is working in the research group of Polymer Chemistry and Technology (Prof Liska), and her research focuses on photopolymers, additive manufacturing and self-strengthening materials.

contact: katharina.ehrmann@tuwien.ac.at


Dipl.Ing.in Larissa Ruppitsch

PhD student @ the Institute of Applied Synthetic Chemistry

Larissa studied Technical Chemistry specializing in synthetic and polymer chemistry. She is currently pursuing her PhD-thesis in developing novel recyclable materials for 3D-printing applications. 

contact: larissa.ruppitsch@tuwien.ac.at


Dipl.Ing.in Anna Schmidbauer

PhD student @ the Institute of Applied Synthetic Chemistry

Focusing on polymers and biomaterials in her master’s program, Anna is currently a PhD student working on improved biointegration of patient-specific artificial bone implants. Her work is part of the Christian Doppler Laboratory for Advanced Polymers for Biomaterials and 3D Printing.

contact: anna.schmidbauer@tuwien.ac.at


Dipl.Ing.in Dr.in Simone Knaus

Professor @ the Institute of Applied Synthetic Chemistry

More information on her current research is coming soon!

contact: simone.knaus@tuwien.ac.at


Dipl.Ing.in Danijela Kojic

PhD student @ the Institute of Applied Synthetic Chemistry

Danijela received her master’s degree in Technical Chemistry and specialized in synthetic and polymer chemistry in the research group of Prof. Liska. Currently she is working on her PhD-thesis in the Christian Doppler Laboratory for Advanced Polymers for Biomaterials and 3D Printing on the development of biomaterials and bone adhesives.

contact: danijela.kojic@tuwien.ac.at


Dipl.Ing.in Bianca Mikulasek

PhD student @ the Institute of Chemical, Environmental and Bioscience Engineering

Bianca holds a master’s degree in biotechnology. In her PhD she focuses on transfer learning methods for process analytical technology.

contact: bianca.mikulasek@tuwien.ac.at


Dipl.Ing.in Katharina Schlögl

PhD student @ the Institute of Applied Synthetic Chemistry

Katharina is currently doing her PhD in organic synthetic chemistry in the bioorganic synthethic chemistry group. Her main research field is medicinal chemistry, synthezising tool compounds like photoswitches for the investigation of monoamine neurotransmitter transporters and G-quadruplex DNA.

contact: katharina.schloegl@tuwien.ac.at


Dipl.Ing.in Bettina Semler

PhD student @ the Institute of Chemical, Environmental and Bioscience Engineering

Bettina is doing her PhD in the research area of bioprocess technology. In her research she is focusing on the sustainable production of valuable products like palm oil derivates.

contact: bettina.semler@tuwien.ac.at


Previous Events


This section should give you an overview on successful events from the last years. The number of seminars and courses mentioned here, is by any means complete. For more detailed reports and summaries of our workshop portfolio please check out our annual newsletters of previous years!

Introduction to AI for Research

Led by our dynamic and enthusiastic trainer, Bron Eager, the workshop catered to both beginners and advanced learners. Bron’s motivation and willingness to answer all questions created an engaging learning environment. The workshop not only provided valuable input on selecting appropriate AI tools for specific tasks but also delved into effective communication with AI to achieve desired outputs. This newfound knowledge promises to simplify the participants daily research habits, making them more efficient and streamlined. All participants left with comprehensive learning materials to continue exploring AI tools independently.


Homepage Design

This workshop offered a comprehensive understanding of TU Wien’s website systems, website structuring, and WordPress mastery. Participants gained insights into TU Wien’s website systems, ensuring they could effectively manage content while staying compliant with the General Data Protection Regulation (DSGVO). They dove into website structuring, learning to tell a compelling story through organized and user-friendly design. They harnessed the power of WordPress to create functional academic websites.


Making your research count

In this tailored workshop, our two experienced trainers Elise Harder and Andreas Pacher shared practical tips, a lot of know-how and their broad general knowledge regarding literature databases and scholarly profiles with our participants. Overall, the participants gained a lot of helpful information on how to interpret their own scientific metrics and how to personalize their scholarly profiles for a better overview and understanding of their scientific appearance.


PROJECT MANAGEMENT with IPMA LEVEL D certification

During this seminar, we obtained the basics and practical knowledge about successful project management and necessary framework for implementing it into our scientific career and daily life. Our trainer Armin Buchner gave us inside in a 2-day onsite workshop, where we focused not only on the theory of successful PM, but we could also discover practical structures and hands-on examples. All of our FemChem participants not only successfully passed the international level D certification, but also gained sustainable knowledge for their future careers.


Seminar on Fundamentals of Statistics

In January, we had the privilege of hosting a captivating seminar on Statistics and Design of Experiments (DoE) led by our trainer, DI Dr. Johannes Hofrichter.

What We Explored: Johannes Hofrichter’s expertise in statistics and DoE guided participants through an array of key topics, including:
• Statistical Fundamentals: Johannes freshened up basics empowering attendees to confidently interpret data.
• Hypothesis Testing: The seminar delved into the critical skill of hypothesis testing. Johannes provided invaluable insights into how to formulate and assess hypotheses, separating fact from conjecture.
• Design of Experiments (DoE): The heart of the seminar was an in-depth exploration of DoE. Participants learned to plan, execute, and analyze experiments to optimize processes, solve problems, and maximize results.


Seminar on “Use your voice” – with Heilwig Pfanzelter

It is a matter of fact, that female speakers are prone to be perceived “less” serious than male ones due to their way of speaking. Therefore, the CE team organized a seminar with the experienced trainer and former moderator Heilwig Pfanzelter, designed especially for the FemChem community. Within the motto “Persönlichkeit ist hörbar”, the seminar focused on voice, body language, breathing, speed, and speaking breaks. At the end of this seminar, all participants had the opportunity to film themselves while speaking and receive a first hand feedback from our trainer. 


Workshop “Origin Pro”

The CE team organized an entry and advanced level ORIGIN PRO course for female AND male scientists. The experienced trainer Markus Höhner gave a short introduction into the basics of this software, followed by specific examples designed for our FemChem community. All participants were encouraged to bring their work-data to this workshop to get tailored feedback, and a lot of participants happily took that opportunity.


Fit for Data Evaluation – a workshop on Statistics

Another course that needs to be mentioned was the one on improving statistical data analysis during the evaluation process of scientific work (big data for publications, papers, thesis, etc.). This course was offered to Master-, PhD-students , and PostDocs of all gender. During the course topics like different types of statistical tests, various methods of plotting, helpful input and practical exercises on real scientific data as well as the evaluation with standard software were discussed.


Contact: ce_femchem@list.tuwien.ac.at