Stefan Kaskel, Professor of Inorganic Chemistry at Technische Universität Dresden, has been selected as a Henriette Herz Scout of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (AvH). This program enables successful scientists in Germany to directly recruit up to three international research talents of their choice, including at least one female scientist, to their own institution for a Humboldt Research Fellowship. With the active recruitment, the AvH intends to attract highly sought-after, outstanding international researchers. The Humboldt Foundation selects up to 40 scouts each year in a competitive peer-review process.

Scouting, meaning the search for particularly talented individuals with a suitable profile, has long been part of human resources development in business or even in sport in order to remain competitive in the market. Also in science, active recruiting has increasingly become a common tool for attracting the best minds to one's team. With the Henriette Herz Scouting Program, the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation last year created an opportunity that allows renowned German scientists to directly recommend up to three scientific talents from abroad for an AvH fellowship and bring them to their own research institution. After formal approval, the fellowships will be granted directly.

The aim is to recruit highly sought-after researchers, for example those working in fields that are in particularly high demand, and at the same time to increase the proportion of women in the Humboldt Research Fellowship Program, as the first of the three fellowships is to be awarded to a female scientist.

Professor Stefan Kaskel is one of a total of 23 scouts selected this year. At the Chair of Inorganic Chemistry I at TU Dresden, he studies modern inorganic materials from synthesis to characterization and application. Worldwide, he is one of the leading experts in metal-organic framework compounds and has a large international network of cooperation partners.

Stefan Kaskel is very pleased to have been selected as a Henriette Herz Scout, as the program enables him to quickly and flexibly enrich his team. Internationality is particularly close to his heart: "My own career was shaped by my stay abroad as a Feodor Lynen fellow. That is why I consider the internationality of my own research group to be enormously important. There is not just one right way to do excellent research. Science thrives on the exchange of the best ideas and discussion."

More information on the Henriette Herz Scouting Program: https://www.humboldt-foundation.de/en/apply/sponsorship-programmes/henriette-herz-scouting-programme

Media inquiries:
Prof. Stefan Kaskel
Chair of Inorganic Chemistry