Professor Kucera, you have taken on the role of Scientific Director for the GDNÄ Conference 2026 in Bremen. What attracted you to this role?
I am familiar with the GDNÄ from my time at the University of Tübingen. I still remember well the meeting organized by Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard, Nobel Prize winner in Medicine and then president of the GDNÄ. With its interdisciplinary lectures and student program, the conference was a model of modern science communication for me. All of this fits in very well with the science city of Bremen, where I have been working for thirteen years. So I was happy to accept when the current president of the GDNÄ asked me to take on the task. 

How can we imagine your work as scientific director?
I prepare the stage for the GDNÄ on site and support it with my contacts in Bremen’s science, education, and cultural scene. This involves recruiting speakers, finding good venues for the accompanying program, and establishing contacts with schools and the city administration. I am happy to invest the time and energy required for this. For us, the GDNÄ meeting is a welcome opportunity to demonstrate the strengths of Bremen as a center of science.

  © DHI Bremen

What are these strengths?
In 2005, the Stifterverband named Bremen the first German “City of Science.” This is testament to the rapid development that universities, institutes, and the entire scientific community in Bremen and Bremerhaven have undergone over the past 50 years. I myself have always been impressed by the high density of scientific institutions located around our campus in the technology park, which are closely networked with each other. The university is at the center, surrounded by high-tech companies and non-university institutes. Distances are short, and the cafeteria is often a common meeting place – which promotes cooperation. With our focus on marine research, artificial intelligence, and robotics, but also on the social sciences, we can compete internationally. In addition, Bremen is a great city that has a lot to offer. People here are proud to live in a city of science and enjoy attending lectures, exhibitions, and discussion events. The people of Bremen are aware of the importance and benefits of science for society.

This fits in with the motto of the 2026 meeting: Knowledge creates benefits – use science.
Yes, also with regard to the application of research, Bremen is a very suitable venue for the GDNÄ.

As Vice President for Research and Transfer at the University of Bremen, you are responsible for the application of research. How do you proceed?
It is important to me to support our researchers in their commitment to transfer and to clearly communicate our appreciation for them. I try to understand what promotes transfer and what hinders it. To this end, I hold many discussions and try to involve colleagues from across the entire spectrum of disciplines at the university. It is also important for us to maintain contact with local players in Bremen, from the cultural scene to business associations such as the Chamber of Commerce and the Industry Club. Close networking is the key to success for the location as a whole.

You have been in office for three years. What has happened in terms of transfer?
We have achieved a lot. One example is the Digital Hub INDUSTRY, where we work with small and medium-sized companies in the region to develop tailor-made digital solutions for the industry of tomorrow. Another example is the transfer center for sustainable materials, matena innovate! center, which was founded in December 2024. We were able to prevail in fierce competition and win the Hamburg-based Joachim Herz Foundation for the promotion of our location. Here, research teams from the university and our partner institutes develop new approaches from research to application maturity. The focus is on topics such as stationary energy storage for renewable energies, sustainable feed for aquaculture, and sensor materials for the hydrogen economy. We are benefiting from a change in the overall climate when it comes to transfer: its importance is increasingly recognized by society, and its image has improved significantly in recent years.

© Volker Diekamp, Universität Bremen

Expedition MSM 111 in Baffin Bay: In the conference room of the research vessel Maria S. Merian, scientists discuss the initial results of a deep-sea drilling project. Together, they attempt to understand the stratification of the ocean floor. “As it later turned out, our initial interpretations were completely wrong,” says Michal Kucera (center), who was the expedition leader at the time.

You are Czech, studied in Prague, earned your doctorate in Sweden, and your scientific career has taken you to the US, the UK, and several universities in Germany. How do you assess the German scientific scene in international comparison?
The freedom of research at German universities is fantastic. They do not have to finance themselves through tuition fees and are therefore less commercially oriented than universities in Anglo-Saxon countries. Teaching is more important there than in Germany, there are many tutorials for students, and the curriculum is more flexible than in Germany. While in Germany it is often a matter of complying with rules, for example with regard to teaching obligations, in the UK teaching is distributed flexibly among the teaching staff according to need. On the other hand, Germany’s great advantages are its excellent research funding and its globally unique research infrastructure. These make the country a major scientific power. I, for example, benefit greatly from access to excellent marine science equipment and state-of-the-art research vessels. 

Do you still have time for your own research?
Yes, but unfortunately not as much as I used to. That’s why I’m not starting any new large-scale projects at the moment, but am concentrating on evaluating the results of past expeditions. For example, there are samples from a deep-sea drilling expedition that I led in Baffin Bay in 2022. We expect to gain new insights into the melting behavior of the Greenland ice cap in the past, which is important for our future in a warmer global climate. During this expedition, we also collected sediment cores in southern Greenland that contain valuable information about the climate over the last ten thousand years. They will help us understand why the Vikings left their settlements in Greenland in the 15th century after living there for four hundred years. Incidentally, the MSM 111 expedition with the research vessel Maria S. Merian took place as part of the University of Bremen’s Cluster of Excellence “The Ocean Floor – Earth’s Unexplored Interface,” the continuation of which was recently approved.  

Let’s take another look at the GDNÄ conference in 2026: What can participants look forward to?
Fascinating lectures on current topics in the natural sciences and a great accompanying program. For example, a reception is planned at the Bremen Overseas Museum. The museum, with its collection of natural history, ethnology, and trade that is unique in Europe, will celebrate its 130th anniversary in 2026. Another highlight is a visit to Universum Bremen. The popular science center is located directly on the university campus and invites us to participate and experiment during an exclusive guided tour.

Professor Buchholz, you have been a member of the GDNÄ for a long time. How long exactly?
Actually, for more than a quarter of a century. I was brought in by Professor Heribert Offermanns, a gifted chemist and member of the Degussa Executive Board. I worked for him for several years as an executive assistant, writing speeches for him, for example. Mr Offermanns was my mentor – he convinced me of the qualities of the GDNÄ.

What particularly appealed to you?
The wide range of topics and the interdisciplinary approach to the natural sciences. Even as a child, I was interested in nature in all its diversity and fascinated by the infinity of the universe. When it came to choosing a degree course, I found it difficult to decide between chemistry, biology and physics. In the end, I chose chemistry, which in retrospect was the right choice for me.

 In what way?
Because chemistry has many links to other disciplines. The most exciting time in my professional career was the years I spent in biotechnology, where I was able to work with biologists, physicists and engineers, among others. These were wonderful interdisciplinary teams that achieved great results. I am thinking, for example, of fermentatively produced amino acids that replace amino acids obtained from animal material. During the BSE crisis, this was an important and profitable innovation for the company.

 © Evonik

You started at what was then Degussa and remained loyal to the company and its successor companies, now Evonik, until your retirement. Were you not tempted by an academic career?
Yes, basically, that was my original goal, but based on my assessment during my studies, I felt that chemistry had been relatively well researched and the basic molecules were already known. Of course, you can still produce an infinite number of new molecules, but that wasn’t my path. I was more interested in innovation, in using knowledge for new processes and products. I also found the practical transfer of research results into large-scale production exciting. It’s difficult, but it succeeds time and again. One example is the very skin-friendly, nature-identical and biodegradable biosurfactants that one of my project teams developed over the last decade: today, they are used in dishwashing detergents and skin care products, for example. As a biotech manager who worked exclusively with biologists and engineers for several years, I felt very much at home in the chemical industry. 

The German chemical industry is not doing well at the moment. Is there a lack of innovation?
Yes, but not only in terms of new chemical products. We already have a lot of good products. The chemical industry is a mature industry that is undergoing a gigantic transformation. Energy and raw materials are expensive, cheap competition and weak demand are squeezing margins. Consolidation is inevitable; the chemical industry will shrink. At the same time, it is urgently needed, not least to combat climate change and better protect the environment. However, radically new approaches are required. I see opportunities in the combination of chemistry and artificial intelligence, which will give the field a major boost. And we must not miss out on this development.

 © Evonik

That sounds like a good topic for the next GDNÄ meeting in Bremen in 2026.
Yes, a contribution on this topic is indeed planned. Lectures on industrial biotechnology and the electrocatalytic production of green hydrogen are also planned. The Nobel Lecture will be given by Benjamin List from the Max Planck Institute for Coal Research in Mülheim. He will report on his research into organocatalysis, for which he received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2021. 

In the GDNÄ, you are not only group chairman for chemistry, but also designated secretary general. At the beginning of 2027, you will take over the honorary position from Michael Dröscher. What motivates you?
The GDNÄ suits me and my interest in fundamental and interdisciplinary issues. That is what the GDNÄ has stood for for two hundred years. I find that impressive and important, and I am happy to contribute to its future development. 

Do you already have any ideas?
In my studies at the University of the Third Age at Goethe University Frankfurt, I am currently focusing intensively on natural philosophy. This also involves our ability to understand nature and its limits. We are learning a great deal about scientific theories and the history of science and are engaged in lively discussions on these topics. I could also imagine such a range of topics being offered at the GDNÄ. The great popularity of my course shows that there is interest in such fundamental questions.