Chemistry professor at Leibniz Universität Hannover receives award for interdisciplinary teaching and research Professor Thomas Scheper from the Institute of Technical Chemistry at Leibniz Universität Hannover was awarded the 2014 Lower Saxony Science Prize on Wednesday, October 15, 2014. The award recognizes Scheper for his commitment to interdisciplinary research in the field of tissue engineering and biomedicine, as well as for his contributions to the internationalization of teaching and studies. The prize is endowed with 25,000 euros. Scheper's research work in the field of tissue engineering and in biomedical engineering led to the approval of the project "Biofabrication for NIFE (Lower Saxony Center for Biomedical Engineering, Implant Research and Development)", which is funded by the state of Lower Saxony. In this project, competences of different institutes of Hanoverian universities (MHH, HMTMH and Leibniz Universität Hannover) in the field of medicine, natural and engineering sciences are bundled. The area of participatory research is particularly important here: scientists want to research both the effect and acceptance of their own work on the population. "The point is not only to conduct interdisciplinary research, but also to pay attention to the fears or wishes of potential beneficiaries at an early stage and to respond to them," says the chemist, who has taught at Leibniz Universität since 1995. In the area of teaching, Prof. Thomas Scheper designed the first consecutive bachelor's and master's degree program "Life Science - Cells and Molecules" in Lower Saxony. By initiating the student exchange between Leibniz Universität Hannover and the Technion in Haifa/Israel, Scheper has made a significant contribution to internationalization in teaching. In the meantime, this exchange program has been established and extended to other universities in Lower Saxony. The goal is to send ten to twelve students to Israel each year. The professor would like to donate a large part of his prize money to this project. The Lower Saxony Science Prize is awarded to scientists at a university or college in Lower Saxony. The award is given to persons who have held a professorship for a certain period of time and who have made special achievements in, for example, cross-university research focuses, cooperation with non-university research institutions, developments in teaching and studies, or the like. Source: (Leibniz Universität Hannover, Mechthild Freiin von Münchhausen)
