Weiß-Borkowski, Nathalie

A moment with...
Professor Nathalie Weiß-Borkowski

“My career started as a child, with those little figures you get in Kinder eggs: I was fascinated by how an entire self-assembly toy could fit inside such a small capsule and wanted to invent figures like that myself. These days, I know that “inventing” isn’t a real profession and work as a professor of Materials Engineering.”

(1) What I love about my current job is...
...the topics and combination of teaching, research and development, as well as the great people I get to work with.

(2) One of the highlights of my career so far has been...
...being appointed Professor of Materials Engineering.

(3) When I look back on my career to date, I’d say that what has particularly shaped me has been...
…my family and my secondary school.

(4) People and career paths of others that encouraged to take up my professorship are...
...those who talked to me about it.

(5) I believe that female role models are important in university and professional life today because...
...they show that others have also made it, and illustrate just how different paths can be.

(6) I’d advise any young women wishing to pursue a career similar to mine to...
...go for it!

(7) I personally benefited from the equal opportunity measures in place at Paderborn University when I...
...participated in the university’s mentoring programme.

What I particularly liked about it was...
...networking with my female mentor.

(8) I associate my time at Paderborn University with...
...lots of work on interesting projects.

(9) For the next 50 years, I wish Paderborn University...
...interested students and staff and fantastic, interesting new projects.

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.
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.
Burda-Zoyke, Andrea
Professor Andrea Burda-Zoyke
Andrea Burda-Zoyke is married with one son and Professor of Vocational and Business Education at the University of Kiel. She studied Business Education at Paderborn University and received her doctoral degree in Paderborn in 2012.
Mehner-Heindl
Professor Katharina Mehner-Heindl
Katharina Mehner-Heindl completed her doctorate at Paderborn University and has been Professor of Computer Science, specialising in web applications, at Offenburg University of Applied Sciences in Baden-Wuerttemberg since 2010.
Dr Anika Thun
Anika Thun is currently Managing Director of Kalypso Media Group. She completed her doctoral degree on “Life in reboot times: an empirical case study analysis in the film and games industry” at Paderborn University in 2020.