The BIG-NSE is an international doctoral program founded on May 29, 2007 at the Technische Universität Berlin (TUB).
For the first 11.5 years of its existence (June 2007–December 2018), the school was part of the excellence cluster "Unified Concepts in Catalysis" (UniCat – see www.unicat.tu-berlin.de), initiated by TUB and five other institutions in the Berlin area within the framework of the "Excellence Initiative" of the German Federal and State Governments, under the supervision of the German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft: DFG). The top-level research in catalysis performed at UniCat covered a broad range of topics, from the natural sciences to engineering. The success of this research program — the only one of its kind in Germany — required highly qualified and motivated young researchers across its many projects. With the founding of the BIG-NSE, UniCat aimed to recruit the world's most gifted students and young researchers, offering them a broad, high-level, structured educational program to prepare them for the cutting-edge research conducted within the cluster.
In October 2018, UniCat successfully transformed into a new cluster, UniSysCat, and received DFG Excellence Initiative funding for a further seven years, through the end of 2025. More information on the cluster itself and its consortium partners, its research program, its cooperation partners, and its principal investigators can be found on the corresponding webpages. Although the DFG decided not to renew UniSysCat's regular funding beyond 2025, degressive funding has been secured for a further two years through the end of 2027, allowing the cluster to bring its ongoing projects to a sound conclusion.
From January 2019 to December 2025, the BIG-NSE operated as part of the "Einstein Center of Catalysis" (EC2), supported by the Einstein Foundation Berlin. Within this framework, it remained closely linked to research at UniSysCat and worked to inspire, initiate, and promote novel collaborations between research networks and institutions in Berlin on cutting-edge projects in chemistry and the molecular life sciences — projects with the potential to open new directions for future catalysis research. EC2/BIG-NSE also placed a strong emphasis on excellent PhD education, recruiting outstanding doctoral students from around the world to work on highly interdisciplinary projects that transcended the boundaries of classical disciplines in catalysis.
While EC2 and BIG-NSE are currently concluding this chapter of their activities due to the expiration of their funding, the program's legacy is substantial: more than 150 alumni have gone on to distinguished careers in academia and industry worldwide. Active efforts are underway to secure new funding and ensure that the achievements and spirit of these programs endure. We remain committed to catalysis research and doctoral education at the highest level, and look forward to the next phase.
Find out more about us — in particular our organization and our previous efforts in terms of gender equality, internationality, interdisciplinary research, networking and cooperation, technology transfer, and outreach in the corresponding sub-menus.
