Dipl. Chem. Univ. (Chemistry) University of Regensburg (1982-1987); Dr. rer. nat. Institute of Inorganic Chemistry, University of Regensburg (1987-1989); Postdoc Dyson Perrins Laboratory for Organic Chemistry, University of Oxford, UK (1990); Scholarship Liebig-Stipendiat des Fonds der Chemischen Industrie, University of Regensburg (1991-1992); Wiss. MA Max Planck Working Group CO₂ Chemistry, Friedrich Schiller University Jena (1992-1995); Habilitation Friedrich Schiller University Jena (1995); Privatdozent Friedrich Schiller University Jena (1995); Group Leader Department 'Organic Synthesis', Max Planck Institute for Coal Research, Mülheim/Ruhr (1995-1998); Head of the Technical Centre, Max Planck Institute for Coal Research, Mülheim/Ruhr (1998-2002); Deputy Chair of Technical Chemistry and Petrochemistry, RWTH Aachen University (2000-2002); Chair of Technical Chemistry and Petrochemistry, Institute of Technical and Macromolecular Chemistry, RWTH Aachen University (since 2002); Ext. Scientific Member, Max Planck Institute for Coal Research, Mülheim/Ruhr (2002-2017); Director of the Department of Molecular Catalysis at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Energy Conversion (since 2017).