We are very pleased to welcome Prof. Dr. Hatice Mutlu as the new Professor of Sustainable Polymer Chemistry at Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena and as a group leader at the Helmholtz Institute for Polymers in Energy Applications Jena (HIPOLE Jena).
Hatice Mutlu is one of the internationally visible scientists in the field of sustainable polymer chemistry. Her research focuses on the development of novel functional polymer materials using sustainable and circular synthetic strategies. Her key research interests include sustainable polymerisation methods, light-driven synthetic approaches, sulfur-containing polymers, and concepts for a circular materials economy.
She earned her PhD in polymer chemistry at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) under the supervision of Prof. Michael A. R. Meier. After a postdoctoral period at the CNRS in Strasbourg, she returned to the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), a research university within the Helmholtz Association, where she held various scientific leadership positions, including Senior Postdoctoral Researcher, Research Manager, Group Leader, and Senior Scientist.
In 2022, she was appointed as a Chaire de Professeur Junior at the Université de Haute-Alsace (UHA) and the Institut de Science des Matériaux de Mulhouse (IS2M) in France. In 2025, she was appointed W3 Professor of Technical Polymer Chemistry at the Rheinland-Pfälzische Technische Universität Kaiserslautern-Landau (RPTU), where she initiated the establishment of a new research field in polymer chemistry. In parallel, she was appointed Research Director for Polymer Chemistry at the Leibniz Institute for Composite Materials (IVW) in Kaiserslautern.
In addition to her scientific work, Hatice Mutlu is actively engaged in various scientific committees and networks. Since November 2025, she has served as Associate Editor of the journal Polymer Chemistry (Royal Society of Chemistry, RSC), where she is particularly responsible for contributions in the field of sustainable polymer chemistry. Since June 2026, she has also been Deputy Chair of abiosus e.V., where she supports the promotion of sustainable and bio-based materials as well as exchange between academia, industry, and society.
She has received multiple awards for her scientific achievements, including the Dr. Hermann Schnell Fellowship from the German Chemical Society (GDCh).
With her research programme, she will ideally complement the scientific activities of HIPOLE Jena. The institute develops innovative polymer materials for sustainable energy technologies, including batteries, photovoltaics, and other applications in energy conversion and storage. The combination of sustainable polymer chemistry, materials science, and energy research opens up new opportunities for the development of high-performance and resource-efficient materials.
We look forward to the exciting scientific impulses she will bring to HIPOLE Jena and Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena.