In honour of Albert Weller (1922-1996), the GDCh Photochemistry Division, together with the German Bunsen Society for Physical Chemistry, usually awards the Albert Weller Prize every two years for an outstanding dissertation in the field of photochemistry/spectroscopy. The award is intended for young scientists up to a maximum of two years after the doctorate and is associated with an award certificate and prize money of 1000 euros. The award is usually presented at the annual meeting of the Photochemistry Division, which takes place in even-numbered years, and the prizewinner is invited to present the award-winning work in a scientific lecture. The award is decided by a panel of experts consisting of members of both societies.

The prize can be shared.

Deadline: 15 April 2026

Objective
In honour of Albert Weller, the GDCh Photochemistry Division and the German Bunsen Society for Physical Chemistry award a prize for an outstanding dissertation in the field of photochemistry/spectroscopy. The Albert Weller Prize is usually awarded every two years.

The prize
The award is associated with a certificate and prize money of 1000 euros and will be presented at the 30th Lecture Conference on Photochemistry , which will take place from 14 to 16 September 2026 in Braunschweig . The award winner will be invited to present the award-winning work in a scientific lecture at the conference. A selection committee appointed for this purpose, representing the Photochemistry Division and the German Bunsen Society, will decide on the award. The prize can be shared.

Nomination
Nominations can be made by the academic supervisor. Nominations can also be made by a member of the GDCh Photochemistry Division who holds a doctorate. The doctorate must not have been awarded more than two years ago at the time of nomination (date of examination). All nominations should include a concise justification (max. 1 page), the dissertation, the list of publications and a CV (including contact details) of the person to be nominated.

Submission
Please send your proposal electronically and summarised in a PDF file to the GDCh office for the attention of Maike Fries.

The Photochemistry Division of the German Chemical Society and the German Bunsen Society for Physical Chemistry awarded the Albert Weller Prize 2024 on the occasion of the 29th Lecture Conference on Photochemistry in Düsseldorf on 17 September 2024. September 2024 in Mainz to Dr Felix Glaser and Dr Johannes Josef Großkopf.

"The prize is awarded to Dr Felix Glaser in recognition of his outstanding dissertation entitled:
"Mechanisms and Applications of Mono- and Biphotonic Excitations in Photoredox Catalysis"
In the course of his dissertation, Dr Felix Glaser succeeded in elucidating complex mechanisms of mono- and biphotonic excitations in photoredox catalysis. Felix Glaser succeeded in elucidating complex photochemical catalysis mechanisms and developing novel photocatalysis processes in which the energy of two photons is combined, enabling access to thermodynamically demanding reactions. A combination of spectroscopically and synthetically orientated studies led to unusually detailed insights and to findings that reveal the potential and limitations of two-photon mechanisms for photocatalytic applications."

"The prize is awarded to Dr. Johannes Großkopf in recognition of his outstanding dissertation entitled
"Breaking the Mirror: Development of New Photochemical Deracemization Reactions"
, which was completed in the working group of
Prof. Dr. Thorsten Bach at the Technical University of Munich. Johannes Großkopf carried out groundbreaking work on photochemical deracemisation, which makes it possible to produce important biologically active substances (allenamides, hydantoins, oxindoles, diketopiperazines) in enantiomerically pure form from the respective racemate. For this purpose, chiral catalysts have been developed that selectively recognise one of the two substrate enantiomers and cause an enrichment of the other enantiomer through targeted processing. His research thus makes a decisive contribution to the use of resource-saving, photochemical processes for the production of organic compounds with uniform chirality."

The Photochemistry Division of the German Chemical Society and the German Bunsen Society for Physical Chemistry awarded the Albert Weller Prize 2022 on the occasion of the 28th Lecture Conference on Photochemistry in Düsseldorf on 20 September 2022 to Dr Carolin Müller and Dr Felix Strieth-Kalthoff. September 2022 to Dr Carolin Müller and Dr Felix Strieth-Kalthoff.

The prize is awarded to Dr Carolin Müller "in recognition of her outstanding dissertation entitled "Towards Operando Spectroscopy of Supramolecular Photocatalysts - A Case Study on Ru-dppz-derived Systems", which was completed in the working group of Prof. Dr Benjamin Dietzek-Ivanšić at the Friedrich Schiller University Jena and the Leibniz Institute of Photonic Technology. In her dissertation, Dr Müller succeeded in taking important steps towards operando sub-ps time-resolved transient absorption spectroscopy and thus investigating the processes that occur in molecular photocatalysts after light excitation. Dr Müller was able to characterise the photophysics of extremely short-lived reaction intermediates during the course of photocatalytic hydrogen evolution and thus obtain information about the reaction mechanism and possible deactivation pathways of the molecular photocatalysts, which influence the efficiency and stability of the systems".

.

The prize is awarded to Dr Strieth-Kalthoff "in recognition of his outstanding dissertation entitled "Systematic and computer-aided methods for the discovery and development of chemical reactions", which was completed in the working group of Prof. Dr Frank Glorius at the Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster.The dissertation shows in an impressive way how methods of organic synthesis, combinatorial chemistry, time-resolved spectroscopy and quantum chemistry can be used to discover novel photocatalytic reactions as well as to investigate and understand their molecular mechanisms. Using the newly discovered reactivities based on triplet-triplet energy transfer processes, Mr Strieth-Kalthoff demonstrates how the knowledge gained can be used for the design of improved catalysts and synthetic transformations. This dissertation thus makes an important contribution to the development of visible light photocatalysis towards a milder, widely applicable and thus sustainable strategy for the synthesis of complex organic molecules".

The Photochemistry Division of the German Chemical Society and the German Bunsen Society for Physical Chemistry award the Albert Weller Prize 2020, sponsored by ATTO-TEC GmbH, to Dr Michael Peter Kathan and Dr Yusen Luo on the occasion of the virtual 27th Lecture Conference on Photochemistry.

The prize is awarded to Dr Kathan in recognition of his outstanding dissertation entitled: "Photoswitching Reactivity - From Remote-Controlled to Light-Driven Chemical Systems". The prizewinner's impressive work deals with the fundamental question of photochemical control of thermal equilibria. Dr Kathan has developed creative approaches to optically control and drive condensation-hydrolysis equilibria with the aid of photoswitches. Through the creative coupling of photoinduced 6 electrocyclisation and thermal keto-enol tautomerism, he was able to remotely control living polymerisation processes and dynamically make or break covalent imine bonds against their equilibrium position, i.e. quasi uphill. His work has significant application potential for self-healing materials, for example in sensors and for solar recycling of polymers.

The dissertation was written in the working group of Prof Dr Stefan Hecht at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin.

The prize is awarded to Dr. Luo to recognise her outstanding doctoral thesis, entitled: "Photoinduced Electron Transfer Dynamics in Ruthenium(II) Bis(terpyridine) Based Molecular Dyads and Triads". Dr. Luo studied the photoinduced electron-transfer dynamics in covalently linked molecular dyads and triads as model systems for molecular photoredox catalysts. Using model systems comprising a Ru-terpyridine-based photosensitizer, a fullerene acceptor and a phenothiazine donor, Dr Luo could obtain novel insights into the mechanisms of photodriven electron transfer. Resorting on temperature-dependent ultrafast time-resolved transient absorption spectroscopy, Dr Luo experimentally demonstrated novel effects, e.g. investigating the impact of a formally spectator ligand on the electronic coupling between photosensitizer and electron donor. Such "remote control" of electron transfer has been speculated about but has never been demonstrated experimentally before.

Year	Place of award	Name	Institute
2024	Mainz	Dr. Felix Glaser Dr Johannes Josef Großkopf	University of Basel Technical University of Munich
2022	Düsseldorf	Dr Carolin Müller Dr. Felix Strieth-Kalthoff	Friedrich Schiller University Jena Westfälische Wilhelms University Münster
2020	Online Lecture Conference	Dr Michael Peter Kathan Dr Yusen Luo	Dr. Yusen Luo	Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena
2018	No award
2016	Jena	Dr. Dominik Bucher Dr Martin Herder	LMU Munich Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
2014	Cologne	Dr. Katharina Röttger Dr Maria Wächtler	University of Kiel University of Jena
2010	Erlangen	Dr Tobias Nils Wassermann	University of Göttingen
2008	Bielefeld	Dr. Philipp Zacharias	University of Cologne
2007	Cologne	Dr Anton Granzhan Dr Manuela Schiek	University of Siegen University of Oldenburg
2005	Jena	Dr. Christoph David Müller	University of Cologne
2003	Mülheim a.d. Ruhr	Dr Robert Huber Dr Uwe Pischel	LMU Munich Porto/Portugal
2001	Würzburg	Dr. Wojciech Macyk Dr Tobias Steinel	University of Erlangen-Nuremberg University of Göttingen
1999	Munich	Dr Peter Gilch	LMU Munich