Dipl.-Chem. Univ. (Chemistry) University of Regensburg (1982-1987)
Dr. rer. nat. Institute for Inorganic Chemistry , University of Regensburg (1987-1989)
Postdoc Dyson Perrins Laboratory for Organic Chemistry, University of Oxford, UK (1990)
Fellowship Liebig Fellow of the Fonds der Chemischen Industrie, University of Regensburg (1991-1992)
Research associate Max-Planck-Working Group „CO2-Chemistry“, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena (1992-1995)
Habilitation Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena(1995)
Lecturer (Privatdozent) Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena (1995)
Group leader Department of “Organic Synthesis” , Max-Planck-Institut für Kohlenforschung, Mülheim/Ruhr (1995-1998)
Head of the Technical Laboratories Max-Planck-Institut für Kohlenforschung, Mülheim/Ruhr (1998-2002)
Acting Chair
“Technical Chemistry and Petrochemistry”, RWTH Aachen (2000-2002)
Chair Technical Chemistry and Petrochemistry, Institut für Technische and Makromolekulare Chemie, RWTH Aachen (seit 2002)
External Scientific Member Max-Planck-Institut für Kohlenforschung, Mülheim an der Ruhr (2002-2017)
Director Molecular Catalysis, MPI CEC (since 2017)

Paolo Melchiorre was born in 1973 in Italy. He studied Chemistry at the University of Bologna (UNIBO, Italy), where he graduated in 1999. He received his PhD in Chemistry in 2003 at UNIBO under the direction of Achille Umani-Ronchi and PG Cozzi.
In 2002, he worked in Denmark with Professor Karl Anker Jørgensen. In 2003, Paolo worked as a postdoctoral associate with Giuseppe Bartoli, at the Industrial Chemistry Faculty at UNIBO. In October 2007, he took a permanent position as an Assistant Professor at UNIBO. In September 2009, Paolo joined the Institute of Chemical Research of Catalonia (ICIQ) in Tarragona as an ICREA Professor and ICIQ Group Leader. In October 2022, Paolo moved back to his Alma Mater, the University of Bologna, where he is presently Professor of Chemistry.
AWARDS. Paolo has received the “G. Ciamician” Medal, awarded by the Italian Chemical Society (2007), a JSPS Fellowship under the FY2013 Program for Research in Japan, the 2016 Prize for Scientific Excellence from the Royal Spanish Chemical Society (RSEQ), and the 2019 “G. Modena” Medal from the Italian Chemical Society. He was also nominated Liebig Lecturer 2008 by the Organic Division of the German Chemical Society and he received the 2021 Pedler Award of the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC). In 2011, Paolo has been awarded an ERC Starting Grant to carry out the 5-year project “ORGA-NAUT”, while in 2016 he has been awarded an ERC Consolidator Grant to carry out the 5-year project “CATA-LUX”, both funded by the European Research Council.

Since 2019, Paolo is an Associate Editor of Chemical Science, the flag-ship journal of the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC). In 2020, he became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC)
Paolo has authored more than 145 publications in international scientific journals. His papers have received more than 19000 citations. He has delivered about 250 invited lectures and seminars at the national and international level

Giacomo grew up in Trezzo sull’Adda (Italy). He obtained both his BSc and MSc Degrees from Università degli Studi in Milan, where he undertook his final year projects in the laboratory of Prof. La Rosa and Prof. Dalla Croce – investigating the synthesis of novel isoxazoline heterocycles and their participation in chemoenzymatic reactions.
In 2012, Giacomo joined the Chemical Synthesis CDT (Centre for Doctoral Training) at the University of Bristol (UK). There, he started his doctoral studies under the supervision of Prof. John F. Bower. During his PhD, Giacomo investigated novel methodologies for selective C–C bond formation via Ir-catalysed C–H activation.
In 2017, he started a postdoctoral appointment in the group of Prof. Paolo Melchiorre at ICIQ (Tarragona, Spain), where, in 2018, he was awarded a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship. During this time, his efforts focused on the development of asymmetric reactions, enabled by the photochemical activation of organocatalytic and organometallic intermediates.
In 2020, Giacomo joined the University of Manchester (UK) as a Lecturer in Organic Chemistry, working in close collaboration with the research group of Prof David J. Procter on asymmetric Cu-catalysis, sulfonium salt-mediated couplings, and the reactivity of SmI2.
Two years later, Giacomo started his independent career at UoM, where he was appointed Lecturer in Net Zero Catalysis. Currently, his research interests span from synthetic radical chemistry (electrochemistry and photochemistry) to catalytic processes mediated by Earth-abundant metal sources and main-group elements.
Giacomo is a passionate cook and an avid Inter Milan fan.

Prof. Paradisi graduated with a BSc in Chemistry and then a PhD in synthetic organic chemistry from the University of Bologna. In 2002 she joined the group of Prof. Engel at University College Dublin for her post doc and started working in the area of Biocatalysis. She got her first academic position in the School of Chemistry in UCD in 2006 where she remained till 2016. She was recruited then by the University of Nottingham as Associate Professor in Biocatalysis and promoted to Full Professor in 2019. In the same year however, she was offered the Chair of Sustainable Pharmaceutical Chemistry at the University of Bern and relocated to Switzerland. Flow-biocatalysis and enzyme immobilization are core technologies of the Paradisi Lab. She is the recipient of the Green and Sustainable Chemistry Award 2021 jointly sponsored by the Swiss Chemical Society and Syngenta for her ground-breaking work in developing eco-friendly and ultra-efficient biotransformations for the synthesis of high-value chemicals, dramatically increasing the applicability of biocatalysis.

Martina graduated in Pharmacy at the University of Milan, where she obtained also her PhD in Medicinal Chemistry under the supervision of Prof. Molinari with a thesis titled “Biocatalytic synthesis of chiral pharmaceutical intermediates”. In 2016, Martina joined as a Visiting Post-Doc the group of Prof. Paradisi at the University College of Dublin developing sustainable flow-biobased processes for the preparation of valuable compounds. In 2017, she relocated together with the Paradisi group at the University of Nottingham, where a year after she was awarded with a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship, thus strengthening her expertise in the design of intensified enzymatic processes under flow conditions. After a brief period as a Visiting researcher at the University of Bern with a Roche funded project, in 2021 she moved back to her Alma Mater, the University of Milan, where she started her independent career as Tenure Track Assistant Professor. Demonstrating that enzymes can be used as strategic tools in traditional synthesis, three years later she was promoted Associate Professor. Martina was awarded with several prizes among them the 2022 Talent award (ChemBioChem Journal) is noteworthy, while in 2023 she has been selected for the JSP Fellowship dedicated to emerging investigators to join the prestigious Burgenstock Conference.

Karsten Reuter‘s research concerns energy conversion and storage in the context of renewable energy technologies. Processes such as the photovoltaic generation of electric power, the storage in batteries or the conversion into chemical energy carriers such as hydrogen and synthetic fuels are currently either not efficient enough, or require rare or toxic materials and catalysts. The theorist specifically investigates the limiting steps in these processes at surfaces and interfaces, for which he develops modern multiscale modelling and simulation techniques. With the help of these techniques (and supercomputers) he is able to bridge many orders of magnitude and study these processes from the detailed elementary molecular reactions up to entire reactors and fuel cells.