Our research is project-based and is funded both from the university’s budget and through competitively secured external funding and contract research. A description of our current externally funded projects and PhD projects can be found on this page. We are also happy to collaborate on joint projects and undertake contract research.
Externally funded projects
Title: Environmental and Economic Sustainability Assessment for PEC Syntheses
Description:
This research proposes a novel framework that adapts life cycle assessment (LCA) and life cycle costing (LCC) methods for PEC synthesis processes, enabling a holistic sustainability assessment of alternative synthesis routes. To this end, detailed process-level data (e.g., yields, energy demand, material inputs, by-products) from computational chemistry and laboratory experiments are incorporated into the LCA, focusing on the resulting environmental impacts across different categories (e.g., greenhouse gas emissions, water consumption, toxicity). In parallel, LCC derives economic indicators (e.g., capital investment, operating costs, labour) from the process-level data and supplements them with information from established databases.The key innovation lies in the direct coupling of these methods specifically for PEC synthesis processes, enabling researchers to identify the environmental and economic impacts associated with early-stage processes. This integration accelerates the development of promising synthesis processes, enables their comparison with conventional processes, and embeds sustainability as a core criterion for decision-making in chemical synthesis design.
Funding:
International Doctoral College, Bavarian Elite Network, Bavarian State Ministry of Science and Art
Duration:
10/2026–09/2030
PhD projects
Title: Project Management in Chemical Product Development
Description:
This PhD project addresses the project management of product development projects in the chemical industry. A key focus here is the incorporation of uncertainties, so as to ensure robust timetables for the implementation of the projects. Methodologically, the emphasis is on mathematical optimisation methods, in particular heuristic optimisation.
Funding:
Budget
Duration: 07/2026–06/2030
Title: Sustainable Design of Value Chains in the Chemical Industry
Description:
This PhD project addresses issues relating to the sustainable design of value chains in the chemical industry. Of central importance here is the consideration of the specific properties of chemical products with regard to their production, transport and storage. Methodologically, the focus is on mathematical optimisation and sustainability assessment methods.
Funding:
Budget
Duration:
07/2026–06/2030
Contract research and collaborations
Would you like to collaborate, or do you have an idea for a project? We would be happy to support you in our areas of expertise:
- Business planning and management of value chains (production, logistics, supply chain management)
- Optimisation and decision-making models (e.g. decision support systems)
- Sustainability assessment and sustainability-oriented planning (e.g. life cycle assessments)
- Data- and model-driven tools for planning and control
Please feel free to get in touch with us. Prof. Dr Christian Weckenborg (christian.weckenborg(at)ur.de (opens your email program)) looks forward to hearing from you.
