School internship
School internship
An internship can help you decide on your individual career path!
Would you like to do an internship at the Institute of Chemistry? Email us a short application to and include the following information:
- Name
- Year
- School
- Period of the internship
- Motivation and any previous knowledge
Your enquiry will be answered by Julia Wembacher, Head of Office, and Iva Bačić, Study Coordinator at the Institute.
School internship as study orientation - A report by Felix Haas
His interest in the subjects of chemistry and physics at school motivated Felix Haas, a Year 10 pupil, to apply for a school internship at the Institute of Chemistry. He wanted to find out more about studying natural sciences and scientific research.
After a short email to the Institute of Chemistry office, he was offered an internship in Dr Lars Mohrhusen's working group: "I was allowed to do my internship in technical chemistry with the Hybrid Catalysts working group of Dr Lars Mohrhusen. There I was able to get to know the group and also learn how devices such as a scanning tunnelling microscope or an ultra-high vacuum system work, which are used for measuring and testing samples. I was even allowed to work with a smaller version of the scanning tunnelling microscope myself and get to know the physical principles behind it in practice." The internship was organised in such a way that Felix was also able to gain an insight into other areas of chemistry and physics: "I spent days in technical and physical chemistry and also in chemistry didactics. I was able to gain an insight into research into new treatment methods, surface structures and quantum mechanics. I also learnt more about the scientific use of light and lasers for analysing samples and was able to take a look inside a laser laboratory. I spent two days in the physics department and got to know the Institutes of Chemistry and Physics, combined with a tour of the university building."
A school internship can make it easier for pupils to decide whether to take up a degree programme in the natural sciences. By interacting with researchers and people working in teaching, pupils gain an initial impression of what studying at a university is like. This was also the case for Felix Haas: "The internship far exceeded my expectations. On the one hand, the programme, which gave me an insight into both chemical and physical work and the course of studies through the many different days. And secondly, the nice people I got to know over the course of the two weeks.
In retrospect, I can well imagine studying chemistry and am glad to have gained such an insight into research."
Chemistry gives us the opportunity to explain the world around us - A report by Tida Heckmann
Tida Heckmann (11th grade student) completed her school internship at the Institute of Chemistry. During her stay, she was supervised by junior research group leader Dr Lars Mohrhusen and his colleagues(P. Ebert, J. Klimek, N. Kruse and O. Johannesen), whose research and scientific work focuses on hybrid catalysts:
"I was primarily assigned to Dr Lars Mohrhusen's research group. However, the stay was very varied, so that I was also able to gain many different insights into the entire Institute of Chemistry and even the Institute of Physics," says Tida Heckmann, who is not visiting the Institute for the first time: "As I had already taken part in two competitions at the University of Oldenburg, I already knew that the Institute had great programmes for students. I then discovered on the website that you can also do an internship there. As I am enthusiastic about chemistry, the decision was made quickly and fortunately the application was very straightforward."
The internship definitely confirmed my preference for chemistry. Working on modern research topics, such as nanochemistry, showed me how versatile the subject is and strengthened my desire to study chemistry later on.
During their stay at the Institute of Chemistry, the students work together with their supervisors at the Institute. They have the opportunity to work more intensively on a subject over a longer period of time. This was also the case for Tida Heckmann: "Chemistry is definitely one of my favourite subjects! I particularly like the opportunity to use chemistry to explain the world around us. It's great to use chemical processes to understand how plastics are broken down, for example, or how we can use energy more efficiently. It gives you the feeling of really understanding how things work and maybe even actively contributing to solutions."
During their stay at the Institute of Chemistry, school interns gain insights into the latest research work and research results. They learn what motivates and motivates the researchers in their work, how they work together and how they in turn incorporate the latest findings into teaching and studies at the Department of Chemistry. "A real highlight was the time spent in the student laboratory on the topic of nanochemistry in cancer medicine (AG Didactics of Chemistry). Everything was explained in a very student-friendly way and I particularly enjoyed being active in this area myself," reports Tida Heckmann and adds: "Working on modern research topics such as nanochemistry showed me how versatile the subject is and strengthened my desire to study chemistry later."
Tida Heckmann was able to confirm her preference for the subject of chemistry through her school internship at the Institute of Chemistry. The practical work in the laboratory was motivating for her and showed her that the scientific depth that goes beyond school lessons is extremely exciting for her and that she would like to explore this area more.
Exploring the invisible: School internship at the Institute of Chemistry (Tamino Paladini)
Tamino Paladin, an 11th grade student at Jade-Gymnasium, visited the Institute of Chemistry as part of his school internship from January 6th to January 24th, 2025. His internship was supervised by Dr Lars Mohrhusen. In his report your can read what it was like for Tamino, what he had hoped for and whether the work and the visitstay at the Institute of Chemistry met his expectations:
Simple as that:
„After a school internship, I first looked for companies in my area. As I was interested in both history and the natural sciences, I looked for companies with a focus in these areas in particular. After an unsuccessful search, parents of a friend directed my attention the university. I then just sent an e-mail to the Institute of Chemistry and Dr. Mohrhusen invited me to a video conference.”
Exploring the invisible:
„At school, my interests in chemistry vary, depending on the subjects topic and the teacher. What I particularly like about chemistry (and physics for that matter) is that you learn and try to understand that everything is made up of much smaller particles than we can imagine. It becomes fascinating when you start to be able to imagine it somehow, as I found out during my stay at the Institute of Chemistry. However, the difference between the school subject and the treatment of chemistry at university is huge. Whereas at school you are mainly told theoretical things, during my internship I mainly learned practical things.”
Exploring the diversity of the subjects:
"During my stay at the university, in addition to my internship in the field of technical chemistry in the working group around Prof. Al-Shamery, I was also able to gain insights into many other working groups. These included inorganic chemistry, medicine and physics. Of these, I enjoyed medicine the most, as the topic there was directly related to life (what is done there ends up with us), although inorganic chemistry was also quite interesting.
I saw a lot of things at the Institute of Chemistry, depending on which working group I was in, the labs were either dominated by glassware or vacuum machines. As I was in the field of physical and technical chemistry, I mainly worked on the vacuum machines and other equipment such as microscopes. While I helped with the vacuum machine in my first week (I mainly had to rebuild things) and was involved in measuring samples, I was allowed to work on my own in the third week. I was allowed to test different variants of practical experiments and evaluate them myself in order to further develop practical experiments for research internships. While the work on the vacuum machines was the most exciting, I enjoyed the last week the most as I felt the most productive."
Reinforce the enthusiasm and use it as motivation:
"The internship was definitely a great experience. While I learned a lot about chemical relationships and became more and more interested in chemistry, I also learned a lot about being at a university and got to know the study options and careers there, which made studying more attractive to me personally. The internship confirmed my interest in chemistry. I now have an even greater desire to find out more and perhaps explore chemical relationships myself in the future."
Dr Lars Mohrhusen adds these words: „Thank you, Tamino, for your curiosity and your high level of professionalism and work ethics! We are excited to see where your journey into science will take you and wish you every success in your future endeavors!”
School internship as career orientation - A report by Bayan Habiba
In January 2025, Bayan Habiba completed her school internship at the Institute of Chemistry. She was supervised in her work by Dr. Carsten Dosche. You can read about what she learnt and experienced during her stay at the Institute in her report:
"Ever since I was at school, I have been fascinated by the subject of chemistry because it gives you the opportunity to understand the world on a microscopic level through experiments and chemical reactions. That's why I specifically chose to do my school internship at the Institute of Chemistry. My goal was to gain a deeper insight into scientific work in order to find out whether chemistry might also have a future for me as an career orientation.
Chemistry combines logical thinking with practical handson work, which is why it is one of my favourite subjects at school. I find experimenting with luminol particularly exciting, as energy is released in the form of light.
Looking back, my visit to the Institute was a valuable experience, as I learnt the reality that chemistry is not always about experimenting, but much more about analysing materials and applying spectroscopic methods. It was fascinating to see how a completely new compound can be created from simple starting materials. I particularly enjoyed this work as I was able to carry out simple experiments myself with supervision.
I learnt that science requires a lot of patience and time. Finally, I can say that the work placement has only strengthened my enthusiasm for chemistry. I can only recommend this experience to others."
