July 21st, 2026

Award-winning research on sustainable battery materials

Science Award for Professor Birgit Esser

She is working on solutions to a key question for the future: Professor Birgit Esser, spokesperson for the POLiS Cluster of Excellence and HIU research group leader, has been honored with the 2026 Science Award of the City of Ulm for her scientific excellence. The award was presented on Schwörmontag by Ulm’s Lord Mayor Martin Ansbacher.

Electrochemical energy storage is a key technology for a successful energy transition and is therefore highly relevant to society. For her outstanding research on sustainable battery materials and her science communication, Birgit Esser, chemist and professor at Ulm University, has now received the City of Ulm’s Science Award, endowed with 7,500 euros. The award was presented by Lord Mayor Martin Ansbacher on Monday, July 20, 2026, at the Schwörfeier ceremony.

Birgit Esser combines expertise in synthetic chemistry with know-how in the field of organic battery electrode materials. With her holistic approach, Esser aims to close the gap between basic research and its application. “Professor Esser is one of the defining scientists in her field,” Mayor Martin Ansbacher quoted from the award certificate at the Weinhof. “Her research combines scientific originality with high societal relevance.”

“Our shared goal is to find forward-looking solutions that make sense both economically and ecologically,” says Esser. “What excites me about organic electrode materials is the whole journey: it starts with targeted molecular design, which lets us control how a material takes up or releases electrons and how it behaves electrochemically,” the scientist explains. “Building on that, we want to understand exactly how these materials work — for example, how ions, meaning electrically charged particles, move through the material. We are currently researching this very intensively. In the end, it comes down to the concrete application: using these materials in battery cells.”

As founding director of the CELEST Green Energy Lab, which aims to establish a reference laboratory for electrochemical energy storage beyond lithium, Esser’s influence extends far beyond her own discipline, bringing together science, early-career support, and institutional development. The certificate text further states that she stands for international visibility, scientific excellence, and strategic development work, and that her work strengthens Ulm as a center of science in a special way.

University President Professor Michael Weber praised the award winner: “We are proud that one of the most renowned scientists in this demanding field is conducting research at Ulm University. Birgit Esser has played a major part in ensuring that Ulm, as a center of German battery research, continues to break new ground and remains internationally at the top. We are delighted that she is being honored with the 2026 Science Award.”

More about Prof. Dr. Birgit Esser

Chemist Birgit Esser was appointed professor of Organic Chemistry in Ulm in 2022, coming from the University of Freiburg. She is the spokesperson for the Ulm site of POLiS, Germany’s only battery Cluster of Excellence, which entered its second funding period in 2025. She has headed the Institute of Organic Chemistry II and New Materials since 2024; in 2023, Esser secured a Consolidator Grant from the European Research Council (ERC) worth two million euros. Esser is also a member of the CELEST research platform and a research group leader at the Helmholtz Institute Ulm. She studied and earned her doctorate in Heidelberg and conducted research at the University of Bonn and at MIT in the USA.

About the City of Ulm’s Science Award

Every two years, the City of Ulm awards its Science Award, endowed with a total of 15,000 euros, for outstanding scientific achievements by individuals, research groups, or working groups. It traditionally goes half to researchers from Ulm University and half to those from Ulm University of Applied Sciences (Technische Hochschule Ulm). The Science Award is granted by Ulm’s City Council based on the preliminary decision of a jury that includes representatives from the University, the Technische Hochschule Ulm, and members of the City Council.

Further information:

Prof. Dr. Birgit Esser, Institute of Organic Chemistry II and New Materials, Email: birgit.esser(at)uni-ulm.de

Image source: Christine Liebhardt / Uni Ulm