Brassat, Katharina

A moment with...
Dr. Katharina Brassat

“Innovations and technologies are my metier: I work in Munich as an intellectual property professional and am training to be a patent attorney. Prior to this, I studied Chemistry at Paderborn University, completed my doctoral degree in Physics and researched nanotechnologies as a post-doc with a team.”

(1) What I love about my current job is...
...seeing innovations from a different perspective to a research perspective. I help inventors – from start-ups to global players – elaborate and protect their innovation ideas, thereby enabling more technologies to make the leap from idea to real-world application.

(2) I’ve long been passionate about...
...interdisciplinarity and communication. The two go hand in hand and are, in my view, key to mastering the major societal challenges of the future (and the present).

(3) One of the highlights of my career so far has been...
...realising that I can leverage the hard and soft skills I acquired during my time at Paderborn University to achieve successes in completely different contexts.

(4) When I look back on my career so far, I’d say that what has particularly shaped me has been...
...sharing know-how and ideas with a whole host of people from a whole host of scientific disciplines – including and especially technical specialisms beyond my own areas of expertise.

(5) I’d advise any young women wishing to pursue a career similar to mine to...
...seize every opportunity that comes your way – without thinking too much about it and hesitating.

(6) For me, gender equality will be achieved when...
...it no longer needs to be addressed.

(7) I associate my time at Paderborn University with...
...intensive days in the lab during my degree, international networking during my doctoral studies, freedom during my post-doc and how I developed professionally and personally through a combination of all three.

(8) For the next 50 years, I wish Paderborn University...
...to consistently focus on forging an innovative, international future with equal opportunities for all

Also worth seeing

Raphael, Sabine
Dr Sabine Raphael
Sabine Raphael currently works as a data scientist at insurance company HUK in Coburg and completed her doctorate on “Characterisation of mesopic vision for luminance photometry” at Paderborn University in 2010.
Sigrid Beer
Sigrid Beer
Sigrid Beer, a Paderborn graduate who worked as a research assistant at the university for many years, was a member of the parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia for Bündnis 90/Die Grünen for 17 years.
Tünnermann, Maike
Dr Maike Tünnermann
Maike Tünnermann works as a project manager in an environmental analytics company. Prior to this, she worked on the production of sustainable hydrogen using solar energy up until completing her doctoral degree in Chemistry in 2018.
Herres-Pawlis, Sonja
Professor Sonja Herres-Pawlis
Sonja Herres-Pawlis has been Chair of Bioinorganic Chemistry at RWTH Aachen University since 2015, after posts in Munich, Dortmund and Stanford. She completed her doctorate on “Oxygen activation with copper complexes” at Paderborn University in 2005.
Claudia Auinger
Dr Claudia Auinger
Claudia Auinger opted for a career in regional economic development at an early stage and continues to support local companies with their development to this day.