Baden-Württemberg Center for Brazil and Latin America

Lecture
28. October, 2:00–4:00 PM

Science & Career Talk 

A life of chemistry: towards green and sustainable praxis

As part of the 25th anniversary celebration of BraLat (Baden-Württemberg Center for Brazil and Latin America at the Universität Tübingen), the lecture Science & Career Talk – „A life of chemistry: towards green and sustainable praxis“ will be held by Prof. Dr. Dr. Vânia Zuin Zeidler (Institute for Sustainable Chemistry, Leuphana University of Lüneburg).

Funded as part of the Excellence Strategy of the German Federal and State Governments.
 

Lecture: Science & Career Talk - A life of chemistry: towards green and sustainable chemistry
Tuesday, 28 October 2025 – 2:00–4:00 PM (MEZ) 
Brechtbau Room 215 Wilhelmstraße 50 - 72074 Tübingen

The lecture will be held in English

Eintritt frei 

Flyer for the lecture!

About the lecture

This presentation will focus on the researcher's international scientific career in the field of Green and Sustainable Chemistry, highlighting the role of analytical chemistry in the extraction and conversion of bioactive compounds of interest obtained from agro-industrial waste. Research topics, methods and applications, especially related to sustainable food systems, will be presented, as well as perspectives related to food security and the right to food for all in a challenging world.

Moores, A., Zuin Zeidler, V.G. Don’t let generative AI shape how we see chemistry. Nat Rev Chem 9, 649–650 (2025). 
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41570-025-00757-9

Thompson, E. C. et al. Green Chem,27, 5015-5026 (2025). 
https://doi.org/10.1039/D4GC04670F

Fischer, J. et al. Mainstreaming regenerative dynamics for sustainability. Nat Sustain 7, 964–972 (2024). 
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-024-01368-w

Zuin Zeidler, V.G. Sustainable chemistry and food systems lessons-the same procedure as every year? Science, 383,eado2352( 2024).
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.ado2352

Dr. Dr. Vania Zuin Zeidler is a Full Professor at the Institute of Sustainable Chemistry at Leuphana University (Germany), and currently the Pro-Dean of Gender and Diversity, the Coordinator of the new Master Program "Sustainability Science: Resources, Materials and Chemistry (M.Sc.)" and the Chair of the PhD Committee Dr. rer. nat. at the Faculty/School of Sustainability. Her background is Green and Sustainable Analytical Chemistry and Green and Sustainable Chemistry Education, with major interests in developing analytical methods that are incipient to determine renewable and bioactive high-value organic substances extracted from agro-industrial residues. She was the Founding Director of the Field & Food Tech Hub -UFSCar (http://fieldfoodtechhub.ufscar.br/) a RD&I platform aiming at being a centre of excellence in green technologies and sustainability in resilient agro-industrial sectors in all aspects, from farm to fork. Prof. Zuin Zeidler is author of several publications of high impact in the areas of her expertise and has been invited to give several lectures in the academic and industrial sectors. As a participant of the Alexander von Humboldt (AvH) Foundation research network started in 2005, she was elected president of the Club Humboldt in Brazil in 2015, being its permanent honorary counsellor. Recent distinctions include the 52o and 57o National Literary Jabuti Awards (Brazil), the title of Honorary Visiting Fellow at the University of York (UK), the IUPAC 2014 CHEMRAWN VII Prize for Atmospheric and Green Chemistry, the title of Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC) in 2015, the ACS-CEI Award for Incorporating Sustainability into Chemistry Education, sponsored by the ACS in 2017 (USA), Fellow of the Robert Bosch Foundation and Alexander von Humboldt Foundation at Leuphana (Germany, 2020 and 2021), Visiting Professor at the Green Chemistry Centre of Excellence, University of York (UK) from 2013 to 2023, "expert voice" at Science Journal (AAAS) in 2023 and 2024, the Green Chemistry Education Challenge Award promoted by Dow and Beyond Benign (USA) in 2025, and the Creative Lead of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Residency Programme (Germany) in 2025.

Science & Career Talks 

The University is dedicated to promoting equality and equal opportunities for all genders.
With the Science & Career Talks series, the University is intensifying its gender equality activities as part of the Excellence Strategy by inviting experienced and successful female scientists to Tübingen. They present their research in a public talk and provide insights into their discipline-specific individual experiences in a workshop, thus offering early-career researchers at the University of Tübingen the opportunity to meet senior scientists as role models and to become inspired by their work and career.