For his great commitment to the Frankfurt International Graduate School for Science (FIGSS), FIAS Fellow Sebastian Thallmair received the Director's Award for Excellent Mentoring today. The award, endowed with 5,000 Euros, honors his innovative commitment to the graduate school.

When Thallmair took over as head of FIGSS in 2022, he initiated a comprehensive restructuring process. The aim was to strengthen the supervision and qualification of doctoral students. Following the paralysis caused by the pandemic, Thallmair and his administrative team fundamentally reorganized graduate training. This includes a revised range of courses, binding declarations of participation, and the introduction of a Thesis Advisory Committee, which structures supervision and makes it more transparent. Thallmair organizes the interdisciplinary doctoral seminar with great care and personal commitment.

Thallmair is characterized by a special feel for the individual needs of doctoral students. For example, all members are given the opportunity for individual feedback sessions - an offer that goes far beyond the usual. To promote academic communication and presentation skills, Thallmair has created a prize for outstanding presentations. With great sensitivity, the head of FIGSS brings together doctoral students from different disciplines in a joint training structure, which requires a high degree of flexibility and interdisciplinary understanding.

“He has become a central contact person for many PhD students and a trusted companion on the path to a doctorate,” emphasizes FIAS Director Volker Lindenstruth. Thilo Duve highlights the role of the award winner: “We appreciate his commitment and how actively he participates in everything - that is a great role model for us all”. Thallmair is always on hand to help with challenges and contributes helpful ideas, both to the scientific work and to the constructive environment of the FIGSS program, adds doctoral student Cristina Gil Herrero.

Sebastian Thallmair is also committed to communicating his research outside of the graduate school. His public lectures - for example at the FIAS Forum and the Night of Science - are characterized by clarity, technical depth, and a high degree of didactic sensitivity. He encourages students to actively participate in public relations projects: his working group is one of the most visible at FIAS. “Sebastian Thallmair exemplifies a modern, dialog-oriented academic culture that works on an equal footing with young academics,” said the selection committee, chaired by FIAS Director Volker Lindenstruth, explaining their choice. “Through his commitment, the award winner makes a significant contribution to the attractiveness of FIAS as a place of training for doctoral students.”

Dr. Sebastian Thallmair (40) is a FIAS Fellow and independent group leader since October 2020. He studied at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munich where he completed his doctorate. His work was awarded the Dr. Klaus Römer Foundation's doctoral prize. As a postdoc in Munich and at the University of Groningen, he worked on the modeling of biological processes and the development of coarse-grained molecular dynamics methods. In 2017, he received an Individual Fellowship from the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions of the European Commission (Horizon2020).

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