Prof. Dr. Andrea Kirsch is Junior Professor of Oxidic Functional Materials at Ruhr University Bochum and a member of the Research Center Future Energy Materials and Systems of the UA Ruhr. Within the framework of the NRW Returning Scholars Program, she decided to return to North Rhine–Westphalia after several years of international research experience and took up her Junior Professorship (tenure track) in March 2025.

Her scientific career is characterized by an interdisciplinary education in materials science, chemistry, and physics, as well as by extensive research experience in solid-state chemistry and the structural characterization of functional materials. After completing her Bachelor’s degree in Biomedical Engineering at Jade University of Applied Sciences Wilhelmshaven and her Master’s degree in Materials Science (Mineralogy, Chemistry, and Physics) at the University of Bremen, she obtained her PhD in solid-state chemistry in 2018 at the University of Bremen.

This was followed by several postdoctoral positions, including appointments as a DFG postdoctoral fellow and as a research associate at the University of Copenhagen, where she conducted research in the Nanostructures group. This international experience forms the basis of her current scientific work at Ruhr University Bochum.