Prof. Andreas Walther

Since October 2020, Andreas Walther has been professor for Macromolecular Materials and Systems at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz. Before coming to JGU, he was professor for Functional Polymers at the University of Freiburg and Principal Investigator of the Cluster of Excellence livMatS "Living, Adaptive and Energy-Autonomous Materials Systems". He has published numerous widely-read articles in leading journals. In recent years, he has been supported with an ERC Starting Grant and as a fellow of the Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies (FRIAS) and the Strasbourg Institute for Advanced Study (USIAS), and he has been honored with several awards for excellent young researchers.

The Walther Lab develops hierarchical self-assembly concepts inside and outside equilibrium, and connects those to (bio)macromolecular materials research. The long-term efforts are directed towards energy-driven and feedback-controlled non-equilibrium systems to realize next-generation, adaptive, active and autonomously dynamic soft materials with life-like properties. He is considered one of the leading scientists in bioinspired and life-inspired macromolecular materials and systems and will collaborate with his colleagues in Mainz to expand the research areas of macromolecular systems engineering and sustainable materials at JGU and the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research.