Dr Bernhard Schmidt he/him

My name is Bernhard Schmidt. I am Lecturer for Polymer Chemistry at the School of Chemistry.

Our group works mainly with polymers in water. This covers polymer hydrogel materials that we want use for tissue-engineering, implants and wound dressings but also water-soluble polymers. We use water soluble polymers to generate compartmentalised water phases, where we target for biotechnology applications. In our work with these materials we cover the synthesis and analysis of precursors up to the formation of hydrogels and multicompartments. For further application, we work together with collaborators from biology, engineering and medicine. I am also interested in polymer hybrid materials and polymers from renewable resources to tackle environmental challenges.

As potential CDT project I want to start new collaborations with engineering and cell engineering in particular. My vision for a potential CDT project is to combine our multicompartment research with hydrogels to form hydrogels with novel drug release characteristics.

The students in my group get a close supervision but with plenty of room for their own creative ideas and developments. In the past this approach has worked very well and all graduated students have found good jobs in various directions, e.g. academia, chemical industry but also consulting.

I think diversity and inclusion in the teaching and research environment is mandatory for learning and research success. In my opinion, faculty and also students are committed to support a diverse workplace and learning environment, my philosophy is that all students should be given equal opportunity. In my experience as a group leader I see diversity as a strong factor to bring projects to a success but even more so to develop new ideas. Especially the collaboration of researchers from a diverse background gives rise to novel directions and “out of the box” creativity. Thus, I look for a diverse team of researchers to supervise and collaborate, which has been very fruitful so far. In a research group in particular, good advising and mentoring as well as actions by the supervisor are important factors to ensure inclusion of all group members and to create an atmosphere of belonging.