Current positions
2024-present | Co-Director of the Center of Applied Space Technology and Microgravity (ZARM), University of Bremen, Germany |
| W3-Professor at the Faculty of Production Engineering - Mechanical Engineering and Process Engineering, University of Bremen, Germany | |
| Honorary Professor at the Department of Chemistry, University of Warwick, UK |
Previous positions
2023-2024 | Associate Professor in Catalysis, Department of Chemistry, University of Warwick, UK |
2019-2023 | Assistant Professor in Catalysis (tenure-track, permanent), Department of Chemistry, University of Warwick, UK |
2019-2023 | Formal leader of the research group Photoelectrocatalysis, Center of Applied Space Technology and Microgravity (ZARM), University of Bremen, Germany |
2017-2019 | Leopoldina Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Division of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, California Institute of Technology, USA (supervisor: Prof. Harry B. Gray; close collaborations with the Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis/JCAP) |
2015-2017 | Research Fellow, European Space and Technology Center (ESTEC)/ ESA, The Netherlands |
2011-2015 | Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College London, UK |
2009-2013 | Bachelor of Arts in Cultural Sciences, FernUniversität Hagen, Germany |
2009-2011 | Master of Science in Chemistry for Renewable Energy |
2006-2009 | Bachelor of Science in Chemistry |
2021 | Yakov B. Zeldovich Medal, Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) and Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS) for “contributions to ground-breaking photoelectrochemical experiments in reduced gravitation, demonstrating the potential of solar-assisted oxygen and fuel production for future, long-term, crewed space missions” |
2017-2019 | Postdoctoral scholarships, German National Academy of Sciences - Leopoldina and DFG (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft), Germany for a postdoctoral stay at Caltech |
2011-2014 | Travel grants for the participation in conferences and winter/ summer schools i.a. from Gesellschaft Deutscher Chemiker, Germany, Solar Fuels Network/UK, Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD)/Germany, Diversity Award (ISF-2 conference/ San Diego/USA) |
2011-2014 | PhD scholarship, Heinrich-Böll-Foundation, Germany |
2009-2011 | Ambassadorial Scholar of the Rotary Foundation for the master’s program “Chemistry for Renewable Energy”, Uppsala University, Sweden |
2006-2008 | Scholarships Heinrich-Böll-Foundation, Germany for bachelor’s and master’s studies, Foundation of German Business (Stiftung der Deutschen Wirtschaft, SDW), Germany and Studienfonds OWL, Germany for bachelor’s studies |
Current courses at the University of Bremen
2026-present | Module Sustainable Space Exploration through In-Situ Resource Utilisation (ISRU) (04-304-EM-ISRU); MSc Space Engineering |
2024-present | Module Space Environment and Human Space Flight (04-M30-EM-SEHS); MSc Space Engineering |
| MSc and BSc project supervisions e.g., on the techno-economic analysis of hydrogen production |
Qualifications
2020-2021 | Programme participation: Academic and Professional Pathway for Teaching Excellence (APP TE)/ University of Warwick, Fellow Advance Higher Education |
2018 | Certificate of Interest in University Teaching, Center for Teaching, Learning and Outreach, Caltech/USA |
2012 | Högskolepedagogisk grundkurs (Academic Teacher Training Course), Uppsala University/Sweden |
For a complete list of publications, please click here.
Monographs
- Brinkert, K. (2018). Energy Conversion in Natural and Artificial Photosynthesis, SpringerBriefs in Chemical Physics. Springer International Publishing AG. ISBN 978-3-319-77980-5.
Peer-Reviewed Articles and Book Contributions
- Ross B., Skidmore K., Haussener S., Brinkert K.* (2026). Transient simulation of gas bubble evolution and overpotential dynamics for the hydrogen evolution reaction. ACS Electrochem. 2 (1), 113-123. doi.org/10.1021/acselectrochem.5c00291
- Akay Ö., Monfort-Castillo M., St. Francis T., Becker J., Saravanabavan S., Romero-Calvo Á., Brinkert K.* (2025). Magnetically induced convection enhances water electrolysis in microgravity. Nat. Chem. 17, 1673-1679. doi.org/10.1038/s41557-025-01890-0
- Ross B., Haussener S., Brinkert K.* (2025). Impact of gas bubble evolution dynamics on electrochemical reaction overpotentials in water electrolyser systems. J. Phys. Chem. C 129 (9), 4383-4397. doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpcc.5c00220
- Ross B., Haussener S., Brinkert K.* (2023). Assessment of the technological viability of photoelectrochemical devices for oxygen and fuel production on Moon and Mars. Nat. Commun. 14 (3141). doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-38676-2
- Kaur M., Walker M., Hindmarsh S., Bolt C., York S., Han Y., Lees M. R., Brinkert K.* (2023). Designing mixed-metal electrocatalyst systems for photoelectrochemical nitrogen activation. Faraday Discuss. 243, 354-377. doi.org/10.1039/D2FD00157H
- Romero-Calvo Á., Akay Ö., Schaub H., Brinkert K. (2022). Magnetic phase separation in microgravity. npj Microgravity 8 (32). doi.org/10.1038/s41526-022-00212-9
- Saravanabavan S., Coulthard C. T., Kaur M., Brinkert K.* (2022). Catalysis in space environments. doi.org/10.1002/9783527830909.ch7 In: Hessel V., Stoudemire J., H. Miyamoto & I. D. Fisk (Eds.). In Space Manufacturing and Resources. Wiley-VCH. ISBN: 978-3-527-83091-6.
- Akay Ö., Poon J., Robertson C., Abdi F. F., Roldan-Cuenya B., Giersig M., Brinkert K.* (2021). Releasing the bubbles: nanotopographical electrocatalyst design for efficient photoelectrochemical hydrogen production in microgravity environment. Adv. Sci., 2105380. doi.org/10.1002/advs.202105380
- Yu W., Buabthong P., Read C. G., Dalleska N., Lewis N. S., Lewerenz H.-J., Gray H. B., Brinkert K.* (2020). Cathodic NH4+ Leaching of nitrogen impurities in CoMo thin-film electrodes in aqueous acidic solutions. Sustain. Energ. Fuels. 4, 5080-5087. doi.org/10.1039/D0SE00674B
- Brinkert K.*, Richter M. H., Akay Ö., Liedtke J., Giersig M., Fountaine K. T., Lewerenz H. J. (2018). Efficient solar hydrogen production in microgravity environment. Nat. Commun. 9 (2527). doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-04844-y
- Brinkert, K., De Causmaecker, S., Krieger-Liszkay, A., Fantuzzi, A., Rutherford, A. W. (2016). Bicarbonate-induced redox tuning in Photosystem II for regulation and protection. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 113 (43) 12144-12149. doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1608862113
- Mersch, D., Lee, C.-Y., Zhang, J. Z., Brinkert, K., Fontecilla-Camps J. C., Rutherford, A. W. & Reisner, E. (2015). Wiring of Photosystem II to a Hydrogenase for photoelectrochemical water splitting. J. Am. Chem. Soc., 137 (26), 8541-8549. doi.org/10.1021/jacs.5b03737
- Pullen S. & Brinkert K.* (2014). SolEn for a Sustainable Future: Developing and Teaching a Multidisciplinary Course on Solar Energy to Further Sustainable Education in Chemistry. J. Chem. Educ. 91 (10), 1569-1573. doi.org/10.1021/ed400345m1