Robert Woodward

1. Was sind für Sie die größten Herausforderungen in der Lehre?

The biggest challenges for me derive from striking a balance between generating genuine interest in a topic and conveying the important information (which can at times be boring…). To tackle this, I try to frame the information in real-life examples or interesting anecdotes to give students a feel for the importance of the information they are learning, rather than simply learning something they feel may not be relevant for them or their studies. This can be quite difficult but I learn a lot in the process too.

2. Was würden Sie in Bezug auf das Chemiestudium verändern wollen?

I have already seen some quite significant changes during my (relatively) short time in academia, such as improvements in diversity and inclusion, student-teacher communication, and utilisation of technological tools. I’d like to see the retention or promotion of more flexible learning models after COVID-19, such as hybrid courses (online and in-person) and asynchronous learning.

3. Welches Fach, das es bei uns nicht gibt, würden Sie gerne unterrichten?

I am quite lucky because not long after I joined Uni Vienna, I was able to propose courses for the new Green Chemistry Master. This included the introduction of new courses on porous organic materials and chemical separations. However, I would also like to see a little more on industrial chemistry to give students a sense of scale and markets. Industrial implementation of processes is often vastly different from that of the same processes done in our laboratories – I would like to see more examples taught of how industry and engineers tackle such problems.