Professor of Polymer Chemistry: Prof. Dr. H. Mutlu

Prof. Dr. Hatice Mutlu appointed Professor (W3) at RPTU and Research Director at IVW

Kaiserslautern, August 2025 - Prof. Dr. Hatice Mutlu has received her certificate of appointment as Professor of Polymer Chemistry (W3) at RPTU University Kaiserslautern-Landau (RPTU) and as Research Director for Polymer Chemistry at Leibniz-Institut für Verbundwerkstoffe GmbH (IVW). The award ceremony took place in Kaiserslautern in the presence of RPTU President Prof. Dr. Malte Drescher, Prof. Dr. Antonio Pierik (Dean of the Chemistry Department) and Prof. Dr. Ulf Breuer (Scientific Director of the Leibniz Institute for Composite Materials, IVW). Family members and current and former colleagues from Prof. Mutlu's research team also attended the ceremony.

This newly created professorship strengthens the strategic partnership between RPTU and IVW and bridges the gap between fundamental polymer chemistry and application-oriented materials science. In her dual role, Prof. Mutlu will focus on sustainable and circular polymer systems as well as innovative material solutions for energy and health applications.

Teaching at RPTU

From the winter semester 2025/26, Prof. Mutlu will be teaching courses in the Bachelor's and Master's degree programs in Chemistry at RPTU:

• Synthetic Polymer Chemistry I (Bachelor)

• Modern (sustainable) methods of preparative polymer chemistry (Master)

• Seminar on current research in sustainable / green / circular polymer chemistry (Master)

Academic background

Prof. Mutlu received her doctorate under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Michael A. R. Meier in the field of sustainable polymer platform chemicals, with stations at the University of Applied Sciences Emden/Leer, the University of Potsdam and the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT).

She then worked as a research assistant at KIT and did postdoctoral research at the Institut Charles Sadron (CNRS) in Strasbourg with Dr. habil. Jean-François Lutz (2013-2014). She was then a senior scientist in the groups of Prof. Dr. Christopher Barner-Kowollik and Prof. Dr. Patrick Théato at KIT. In 2017, she was offered a research position at Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Brisbane, which she declined for family reasons, but continued her international collaboration with Australia.

From 2019 to 2022, she headed the Soft Matter Synthesis Laboratory (SML) at KIT and was also Deputy Director of the Institute for Biological Interfaces 3 (IBG-3), where she was responsible for projects on light-controlled polymerizations, sulfur chemistry and circular material systems.

In 2022, she was appointed Assistant Professor of Polymer Chemistry (tenure track) at the Université de Haute-Alsace (UHA) in Mulhouse, France. In 2023, she was appointed Associate Professor of Chemistry of Circular Economy at the University of Helsinki. From 2024 to 2025, she was also spokesperson for the research axis "Multi-Dimensional Materials and Interfaces" at the Institut de Science des Matériaux de Mulhouse (IS2M).

Prof. Mutlu has published more than 85 publications, has received numerous awards - including the GDCh Dr. Hermann Schnell Scholarship (2024) and the Macromolecular Rapid Communications Junior Researcher Award (2023) - and is a member of the Advisory Board of Polymer Chemistry (RSC).