Katharina Fromm
Rector of the University
Rector
Remit:
- Head and Chairperson of the Rectorate;
- Representing the University externally;
- Supporting and advising researchers, primarily in applying for third-party funding;
- Supervising the activities of the Research Promotion Service;
- Responsibility for the functioning of the University;
- Management of central services;
- Responsibility for finances.
Representing the Rectorate:
- Institute Council of the Adolphe Merkle Institute (AMI);
- Institute Council of the Swiss Centre for Islam and Society;
- Foundation council of the Foundation for Research and Development of Multilingualism;
- Research Promotion Committee;
- Local Research Council of the Swiss National Science Foundation;
- President of the Board of Trustees of the Centenary Research Fund of the University of Fribourg (Fonds du Centenaire);
- Board of FriUp;
- Technology and Knowledge Transfer Office, Fribourg (TechTransfer).
Representing the University:
- Buildings Working Group;
- Joint Steering Committee of the Smart Living Lab;
- Foundation Board of Seed Capital Fribourg;
- Conference of Universities of Western Switzerland (CUSO);
- University Council;
- Swissuniversities.
Services
The Rector supervises the following bodies:
The Research Promotion Service is tasked with advising and supporting researchers in applying for third-party funding, primarily from the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) and the EU Framework Programme for Research.
Techtransfer Fribourg – Technology Transfer Office
The Technology Transfer Office offers legal advice and support to researchers in the preparation of research contracts with the CTI and with partners from industry.
The University Development advises and supports professors and researchers who have a development project in their search for private third-party funding (fundraising) and strategic partners. It also advises and assists external partners who wish to collaborate with the University of Fribourg.
Contact
rectorat@unifr.ch
T: +41 26 300 70 02
Opening hours:
Monday – Thursday: 8:30 – 11:30 / 14:00 – 16:00
Friday: 8:30 – 11:30
Katharina Fromm
Katharina M. Fromm was born in Germany and grew up in France, Germany and the USA. She studied chemistry at the University of Karlsruhe and at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes des Industries Chimiques (now ECPM) in Strasbourg, France. She received her PhD for work on organometallic compounds at the University of Karlsruhe, where - after her Habilitation at the University of Geneva in 2002 - she established a research group. Soon after, she accepted an SNSF (Swiss National Science Foundation) research professorship at the University of Basel. In October 2006, she commenced work as a full professor (Chair of Inorganic Chemistry) at the University of Fribourg.
The work of her research group is centred on the bioinorganic chemistry of silver, silver compounds and nanoparticles, for example on their antimicrobial effect. A further research area is that of new compounds and nanomaterials for batteries. In the NCCR (National Centre of Competence in Research) "Bioinspired Materials", the group is investigating polymers with new mechanophores.