Research Internships in Organic Chemistry

The research practicals in the MSc programmes (Chemistry, Medicinal Chemistry, Biochemistry, Economic Chemistry) are not organised laboratory courses; they are carried out directly within the research groups of the Institute of Organic Chemistry, Inorganic Chemistry or Pharmacy as research placements. Here, you will either work on a small project under the supervision of a PhD student or postdocs from the relevant research group or contribute to a larger project. Please consult the research groups’ websites and, for planning purposes, contact the relevant PhD students or postdocs directly (not the secretariats)!

You can carry out the organic chemistry research practicals in the following research groups:

• Organic Chemistry
  • working group Breder
  • working group Gschwind
  • working group König
  • working group Reiser
  • working group Rehbein
  • working group Klose
• Pharmacy
  • working group Koch
  • working group Heilmann
• Inorganic Chemistry
  • working group Wolf

It is also possible to undertake a research placement as part of a period spent abroad. If you are planning to do so, please contact Prof. Dr. König (opens your email program) in advance to discuss the arrangements and ensure that the placement is recognised. 

Procedure

Arrange a time slot with a research assistant from the research group of your choice. The duration of the internship is specified by the relevant degree regulations, but you are free to choose the timeframe. All internships can be undertaken either full-time during the lecture-free period or part-time alongside your studies. Please note that research assistants also supervise other internships; therefore, please arrange an appointment in good time.

Before the start of the research internship, you must register in FlexNow and with Dr Petra Hilgers by completing a registration form (opens in a new window). (This PDF is not accessible). Please send the registration form, signed by your supervisor, to: petra.hilgers(at)ur.de (opens your email program)

Students in the M.Sc. Chemistry program starting in the 2026/27 winter semester must, prior to the start of the research lab course “Modern Methods of Synthesis” (in the Core Module Organic Chemistry), also complete a safety briefing (usually conducted as part of the seminar “Modern Methods in Synthesis and Catalysis”) as well as a knoledge assessment (opens in a new window). (This PDF is not accessible) administered by the research group leader in charge of the lab. Please submit the required supporting documents along with the registration form to Dr. Hilgers.

At the end of the research placement, you must write a report (“Research Report” with a “cover sheet (opens in a new window). (This PDF is not accessible)”). This report must be submitted to the supervisor no later than 4 weeks after the end of the internship. 

Please send your report – after it has been reviewed and approved by your supervisor – by email (as a Word or PDF document) to Dr Petra Hilgers (petra.hilgers(at)ur.de (opens your email program)). The cover sheet (opens in a new window). (This PDF is not accessible) must be signed by your supervisor and either handed in as an original to Dr Hilgers (in the letterbox if necessary), Room CH 32.1.83, or scanned and sent by email to Dr Hilgers together with the report.

Without submission of the report and approval from Dr Hilgers, no entry will be made in FlexNow!

Structure and content of the research report

The report must be typed and may be written in German or English. It must include the following elements:

• Cover page stating the topic, type of practical, name, matriculation number, degree programme, submission date, name and research group of the supervisor, duration of the experimental work and number of hours
• Table of contents
• Introduction
• Aim of the project
• Results
• Summary and outlook
• Experimental part with detailed information on the experiments
• Bibliography
• Appendix (spectra etc.)

You may refer to the following examples:

• Example 1 (German, subject area: metal catalysis)
• Example 2 (German, subject area: photocatalysis)
• Example 3 (German, subject area: synthesis)
• Example 4 (English, subject area: synthesis and analytics)

registration for the research internship: pdf (opens in a new window). (This PDF is not accessible) or docx (Word) (opens in a new window)

cover sheet for the research report: pdf (opens in a new window). (This PDF is not accessible) or docx (Word) (opens in a new window)

form for the knowledge assessment: pdf (opens in a new window). (This PDF is not accessible) or docx (Word) (opens in a new window)