Professor Dr Uwe Ruschewitz: Research is shaping practical scientific experience

Uwe Ruschewitz is a professor of inorganic chemistry at the University of Cologne. For more than 20 years, he has been dedicated to giving school children direct access to science. Under his leadership, a network of teaching and learning laboratories has been established, which gives more than 1,400 young people each year a glimpse into the university and its research, as well as information on fields of study and careers in the natural sciences.

1. What role has transfer played in your career so far?

Previously, I had primarily associated knowledge transfer with patents, collaborations with industry, or spin-off companies. In fact, I have successfully filed two patents and collaborated with industrial partners on several projects. Only in the past few years did I truly realize that my passion — setting up a student lab — is also an important knowledge transfer activity. Receiving the university award in the category of Transfer in 2026 thus served as a wonderful validation of the work of the many people — both past and present — who have been and continue to be involved alongside me.
 

2. Which of your transfer activities would you like to report on, and what can you tell us about them?

The starting point was the idea to inspire students to pursue degrees in STEM subjects (STEM: Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics). We urgently need skilled professionals for our country's technological and economic development. As a chemist, I was initially quite focused on potential chemistry majors. More than 20 years ago, we therefore began offering multi-day summer programs where interested students could conduct experiments in the university’s laboratories.

Over time, it became obvious that expanding and sustaining this largely “volunteer-based” effort would not be feasible. An important milestone was the successful acquisition of funding through the zdi initiative of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia in 2010. This enabled us to hire a coordinator and comprehensively professionalize our programmes in collaboration with the other STEM disciplines in our Faculty and with regards to the associated teaching methods.

This has since evolved into a network of various teaching and learning labs within the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences. In addition to the experimental summer programmes, entire middle and high school classes can now regularly work in the chemistry labs. There are also project days on various topics for lower-grade classes and, amongst other things, “shadow university” programmes in chemistry and physics designed to specifically encourage girls to pursue these STEM subjects.

In recent years, I have increasingly taken on the role of a ‘spiritus rector’ — my main focus is on bringing the various stakeholders together, launching new initiatives and collaborations, and ensuring the continued development of our programmes. Nevertheless, direct contact with the students is always important to me. After all, it is only by talking to the target audience that we can assess which programmes are truly resonating.
 

3. How did you come up with your research topics?

In fact, I had already organized my first summer programmes for school children while working on my habilitation at RWTH Aachen University. It was apparent to me even then that this was an important tool for inspiring future students to pursue this field.

In my opinion, working in the university’s laboratories and having direct contact with researchers —such as the students and doctoral candidates who serve as mentors — have a major influence on young people’s future career choices. Furthermore, it has become evident that a careful selection of the topics on which school students work with us helps these young people develop a positive image of science and chemistry, in particular.

For me, it’s important for the university to become accessible: school children can conduct experiments themselves in the university labs, get to know the researchers there, and see how science works. To me, this is knowledge transfer in the best possible sense!
 

4. What concrete social impact have you achieved through this activity so far?

It is certainly difficult to measure the impact our student labs have on the public perception of chemistry. Specifically, however, we see that the number of first-year students enrolling in chemistry at the University of Cologne has remained more or less constant in recent years, while it has declined significantly at many universities in the immediate vicinity.

As mentioned, a few years ago we began offering lab days for entire school classes in addition to our summer programmes. Now, school classes visit us almost every week. We deliberately target students from the lower grades and from all school types. This gives them an early, hands-on insight into science and helps them overcome any initial apprehensions about college and university. We hear time and time again from teachers that their students consider pursuing vocational training or a degree in a chemistry-related field after visiting us.

Together with the programmes offered by the other teaching and learning labs, we reach more than 1,400 students annually.