Green Light for New ELKA Research Centre at Heidelberg University

The new Centre for the Investigation of Elementary Molecular Processes in Catalytic Reactions (ELKA) is to be located at Heidelberg University. The project will cost 17.36 million euros and the Joint Science Conference (Bonn) has now agreed to the funding of the new research building from federal and state resources. The Science Council had previously indicated its support for this decision. Prof. Dr. Bernhard Eitel, rector of Heidelberg University, commented as follows: “This will systematically strengthen the competitiveness of scientific research in Heidelberg at both a national and international level.” The new building will boast a usable area of 2,168 square metres and is to be built on the Neuenheimer Feld campus in the immediate vicinity of the chemistry institutes.

The ELKA building will accommodate ongoing research work on mechanistic catalysis under one roof. At the same time it provides Heidelberg University with the spatial conditions for a concentration of scientific methods and the infrastructure required for this purpose. The location of the ELKA building in the immediate vicinity of the chemistry institutes means that, in future, the relevant research equipment, workshops and supply facilities can be used jointly. The new structure also provides laboratories and working areas for new experiments as well as boosting the amount of apparatus available.

The outstanding concentration of expertise in, and research on, molecular catalysis at Heidelberg University is a huge asset for the ELKA research programme. Notable examples are the long-term Collaborative Research Centre 623 (“Molecular Catalysis: Structure and Functional Design”), the time-limited Research Training Group 850 (“Modeling of Molecular Properties”) and the Catalysis Research Laboratory run jointly with the BASF company. In addition, Heidelberg scientists are involved in many other integrated research projects with a bearing on catalysis.

Please address any inquiries to

Heidelberg University
Communications and Marketing
Dr. Michael Schwarz
Public Information Officer

michael.schwarz@rektorat.uni-heidelberg.de

Irene Thewalt
phone: +49 6221 542311
fax: +49 6221 542317

presse@rektorat.uni-heidelberg.de