Natalie Banerji

2015-2017 Associate Professor
Department of Chemistry, University of Fribourg, Switzerland.

2014-2015 Assistant Professor (SNSF funded)
Department of Chemistry, University of Fribourg, Switzerland.

2011-2014 Ambizione Fellow (SNSF funded)
Institute of Chemical Sciences & Engineering, EPF Lausanne, Switzerland.
Host: Prof. Jacques Moser.

2009-2011 Postdoctoral Researcher (SNSF funded)
University of California, Santa Barbara, USA.
Host: Prof. Alan J. Heeger (Nobel Laureate Chemistry 2000).

2009 Ph.D. Degree in Chemistry
Physical Chemistry Department, University of Geneva, Switzerland.
Director: Prof. Eric Vauthey

2003 Diploma Degree in Chemistry
University of Geneva, Switzerland.

Prizes and Awards

2016: ERC Starting Grant

2015: Grammaticakis-Neumann Prize by the Swiss Chemical Society.

2008: Award for the best oral presentation, EMPA Ph.D. Student’s Symposium, St. Gallen, Switzerland.

2006: Invitation to the 56th Lindau Meeting of Nobel Laureates, dedicated to Chemistry, Lindau, Germany.

2004: Prize for the best Chemistry Diploma, by Ciba Spécialités Chimiques, Monthey SA.

Funding

(Total ~6’200’000 CHF)

2019 – 2023     Horizon 2020 FET-OPEN: 310’000 €
‘Mixed Ionic and Electronic Transport in Conjugated Polymers for Bioelectronics’

2019-2023     SNSF  Project Funding: 1’044’574 CHF
‘Bulk and Interfacial Processes in (Doped) Organic Semiconductors’

2017-2022     ERC Starting Grant 2016 (European Comm.): 1’498’275
‘Organic Semiconductors Interfaced with Biological Environments – OSIRIS’ (~ 11% success rate)

2015-2022     Principal Investigator in the ‘NCCR MUST’ by the SNSF: 550’000 CHF
National Center of Competence in Research for Molecular Ultrafast Science and Technology

2015-2019     Beneficiary of the Marie-Curie Innovative Training Network ‘INFORM’ (European Comm.): 230’826
Interfaces in Opto-electronic Thin Film Multilayer Devices’

2014-2018     SNSF Stipend Professor Fellowship: 1’600’000 CHF (grant PP00P2_150536)
‘A Mechanistic Approach to Organic Electronics’

2012-2014     SNSF Ambizione Fellowship: 585’705 CHF (grant PZ00P2_136853)
‘Conjugated D-A Copolymers: Understanding Their Optoelectronic Functioning in Organic Solar Cells’

2009-2011     SNSF Fellowship for Prospective Researchers: US$ 79’400 (grant PBGEP2-125859)
For post-doctoral stay at the University of California, Santa Barbara

2005-2012     Various Travel Grants: 11’000 CHF
SNSF, DYNA (European Science Foundation), Marc Birkigt Foundation, SCS, European Laser Infrastructure

Selected Invited Talks

2021        EMRS Spring Meeting (online)

2020        MRS Fall Meeting (online)

2020        RSC Photophysics and Photochemistry Group Early Career Members Meeting (online)

2020        Department Seminar , Physics, TU Munich (online)

2020         Department Seminar , Materials and Biological Physics Group, University of Sheffield (online)

2020        NanoGe HOPV Conference (online)

2019         Department Talk at IAPP (TU Dresden Germany)

2019        PC Colloquium ETH (Zürich, Switzerland)

2019        TSRC: The Role of Assembly in Dictating the Functionality and Applications of Organic Semiconductors (Telluride, USA)

2019        29th International Conference on Photochemistry (Boulder, Colorado, USA)

2019        14th International Symposium on Functional π-Electron Systems (Berlin, Germany)

2019        Advances in Organic and Hybrid Electronic Materials (AOHEM) (Dubrovnik, Croatia)

2019        NanoGe INFORM Conference (Valencia, Spain)

2019        3rd Generation Photovoltaic Technologies and Beyond (KAUST)

2018        SEPOMO ITN Meeting (Oxford, UK)

2018        MRS Fall Meeting (Boston, USA)

2018        AFM2018 (Kolmården Vildmarkshotellet, Sweden)

2018        International Conference on Organic Electronics – 2018 (Bordeaux, France)

2018        Gordon Research Conference on Hybrid Electronic and Photonic Materials and Phenomena (Hongkong)

2018        SPIE Photonics Europe 2018 (Strasbourg, France)

2018        Excitonics for Photonic Applications Winterschool (Les Houches, France)

2017        Regulating the Interfacial Physicochemical Processes of Organic Semiconductors by Design (Telluride, USA)

2017        12th International Conference on Optical Probes of Organic and Hybrid Semiconductors (Québec, Canada)

2017        13th International Symposium on Functional π-Electron Systems (Hong Kong)

2017        Spring Meeting, European Materials Research Society (EMRS 2917) (Strasbourg, France)

2017        APS March Meeting 2017 (American Physical Society) (New Orleans, USA)        

2017        Imperial College Center for Plastic Electronics Winterschool (Bergün, Switzerland)          

2016        European Optical Society Bi-Annual Meeting 2016 (Berlin, Germany)

2016        Future of Chemical Physics, AIP Publishing Horizons Conference (Oxford, UK)

2016        Symposium on Solar Light to Chemical Energy Conversion (Diablerets, Switzerland)

2016        Perspectives on Photonics – Investigating the Route from Materials to Devices (Gstaadt, Switzerland)

2016        Internt. Conf. on Optical, Optoelectronic and Photonic Materials and Applications (Montreal, Canada)

2016        Gordon Research Conference on Electronic Processes in Organic Materials (Lucca, Italy)

2016        Central European Conference on Photochemistry (Bad Hofgastein, Austria)

2015        SPIE Conference “Organic Photovoltaics XVI” (San Diego, USA)                      

2015        Materials Research Society (MRS) Spring Meeting (San Francisco, USA, 2 talks)

2015        NCCR MUST Annual Meeting (Engelberg, Switzerland)

2014        Excitonic Photovoltaics (XPV) 2014 (Telluride, USA)

2014        Next Generation Solar, Photovoltaics Canada, National Scientific Conference (Montreal, Canada)

2013        5th Internt. Symposium on Emergence of Highly Elaborated Pi-Space and Its Function (Nagoya, Japan)

2013        Structure-Property Relationships of Molecular Precursors to Organic Electronics (CECAM, Switzerland)

2013        Young Faculty Meeting 2013 (Bern, Switzerland)

Institutional Responsibilities

2015-            Member of Nomination Committees (Universities of Bern and Fribourg)

2016-2017     President of the Chemistry Department (University of Fribourg)

2015-2017     Local Research Commission of the Swiss National Science Foundation (University of Fribourg)

2014-2017     Safety Committee (President until 2016) (Chemistry Department, University of Fribourg)

2014-2016     Faculty Library Commission (University of Fribourg)

2014-2016     Foundation Board of the ‘Paul-Rhyner Stiftung’ (University of Fribourg)

2005-2009    ‘Conseil de Section de chimie et biochimie’ and ‘Conseil de Faculté des sciences’ (University of Geneva)

Panels and Boards

2021-                  Associate editor of ‘Nature PJ Flexible Electronics’

2021-                  Editorial board of IOP J.Phys. Energy

2019-                 Member of the R’Equip Evaluation Commission by the SNSF

2018-                 Member of the PRIMA Evaluation Commission by the SNSF

2017-                 Editorial Advisory Board Member of the ‘Journal of Physical Chemistry’

2017-                 Editorial Board Member of ‘Nature PJ Flexible Electronics’

2017                    Guest Editor for Chimia issue ‘The Power of Spectroscopy’

2016-                 Delegate of the Photochemistry Section of the SCS for the Grammaticakis-Neumann Prize Committee

2014-2018       Swiss Management Committee of COST Action MP1307 ‘StableNextSol’

Outreach

2019           Fokus Forschung (University of Bern, Switzerland)

2018           Chemie am Samstag (University of Bern, Switzerland)

2018            Lunch Talk Gleichstellung (University of Bern, Switzerland)

2013/18      NCCR-MUST Annual Meeting (Women Scientist Workshop, Engelberg, Switzerland)

2016            Career Focus Article in Optics & Photonics News

2015            Forum des 100 de l’Hebdo, organized by the Swiss magazine L’Hebdo

2015/16      Organization of the 26th and 27th Paul Rhyner Talk, Fribourg

2015/16      Schweizer Jugend Forscht lab visit (University of Fribourg, Switzerland)

2015           Stages WINS (Women IN Science and technology) (University of Fribourg, Switzerland)

2015            Articles in Freiburger Nachrichten

2015            Café Scientifique, Café du théâtre de l’Equilibre, Fribourg