New Grantees at the Bayreuth Humboldt Centre

Since 2019, the University of Bayreuth Centre of International Excellence “Alexander von Humboldt” (Bayreuth Humboldt Centre) has been awarding Fellowships to international visiting scholars who carry out research stays at the University of Bayreuth. Working closely with their Bayreuth hosts, they experience Upper Franconia’s campus as a dynamic place of learning and research where interdisciplinarity and creative thinking are actively practiced. In 2025, the Bayreuth Humboldt Centre further developed and flexibilised its Fellowship programme. The Starter Grant programme makes it possible to attract an even larger number of outstanding international researchers to Bayreuth, where they can also build faculty‑spanning networks as part of their research collaborations.

The fourteen grantees come from nine different countries. “With this newly launched programme, we are delighted to achieve an even greater impact on our campus and to honour sustainable research collaborations,” says Prof. Dr Stephan Kümmel, Director of the Bayreuth Humboldt Centre. The Grants have been awarded to:

1. Dr Aimée Bastidas Ponce (UNAM, Mexico)
Together with her host Dr Maria Fitzner‑van‑Bömmel, she investigates how bioactive plant compounds from Mexican medicinal plants influence the development and function of insulin‑producing cells, opening up new approaches to the treatment of diabetes.

2. Dr Pankaj Chauhan (IIT Jammu, India)
In collaboration with his host Prof. Dr René Koenigs, he develops light‑based, sustainable synthesis methods for the targeted production of complex molecules with applications in medicine and materials science.

3. Dr Sajad Farahani (Farhangian University, Iran)
Working with Prof. Dr Christian Laforsch, he investigates how microplastics alter interactions between parasites and aquatic organisms and the consequences this has for ecosystems.

4. Dr Florence Nworah (University of Nigeria)
In cooperation with Prof. Dr Janin Henkel‑Oberländer, she studies anti‑inflammatory compounds from medicinal plants as potential plant‑based alternatives to conventional drugs.

5. Dr. Adeyinka John Odebode (Kampala International University, Uganda)
He is working together with Prof. Claus Bässler to investigate how fungi occur on microplastics in Ugandan soils, how they contribute to plastic degradation, and how they may act as potential carriers of pathogens.

6. Dr Kavita Pandey (CeNS Bengaluru, India)
Together with Prof. Dr Francesco Ciucci, she develops sustainable battery materials derived from biomass for high‑performance sodium‑ and lithium‑ion energy storage systems.

7. Dr Bernardo Rodrigues (University of Pretoria, South Africa)
In collaboration with Prof. Dr Alfred Wassermann, he develops new mathematical concepts for error‑resistant codes to ensure secure data transmission.

8. Prof. Dr Youhong Tang (Flinders University, Australia)
Together with Prof. Dr Holger Ruckdäschel, he develops intelligent polymer composite materials that can autonomously indicate damage, thereby increasing the safety of hydrogen storage systems.

9. Dr Aretha Teckentrup (University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom)
She works with Prof. Dr Holger Wendland on mathematical kernel methods to solve inverse problems more precisely, for example in climate research and medical imaging.

10. Dr Dipayan Biswas (University of South Florida, USA)
Together with Prof. Dr Claas Christian Germelmann, he investigates how the sensory characteristics of AI systems influence consumer trust in everyday contexts.

11. Dr. Amina Hadžiomerović (University of Amsterdam, Netherlands)
She works with Prof. Katharina Schramm to study how war-affected soils in Bosnia shape health, memory, and everyday life, focusing on the long-term impacts of toxic legacies from mass graves and contamination.

12. Dr Mariano Heyden (Monash University, Australia)
In collaboration with Prof. Dr Ricarda Bouncken, he explores how neurodiverse modes of thinking among leaders shape digital innovation and entrepreneurial behaviour.

13. Dr Anne Wolf (University of Oxford, United Kingdom)
Together with Prof. Dr Eva Maria Ziege, she analyses how authoritarian regimes use legal systems to maintain power and under which conditions law can become a tool of resistance.

14. Prof. Dr Jens Zinn (University of Melbourne, Australia)
In cooperation with Prof. Dr Sylvia Mayer, he develops an interdisciplinary understanding of resilience that explains how societies experience and cope with multiple crises.