Christian von Ferber

By the decision of the Scientific Council of the Institute for Condensed Matter Physics of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine of November 15, 2012 the degree of Doctor honoris causa was conferred on Christian von Ferber (Coventry, UK) for the studies which provided explanation of a whole range of phenomena in soft matter and complex systems, including scaling and multifractality in complex polymers, phase behavior of polyelectrolytes and surfractants, dynamics and vulnerability of complex networks as well as for his engagement in preparation of young scientists and personal initiative in different forms of collaboration between the EU countries and Ukraine.

Christian von Ferber was born on May 15, 1961 in Göttingen, Germany. After obtaining a Master’s degree in physics (Dipl. Phys.) in 1988 at the University of Bonn, he continued his studies as a Ph.D. student at the University of Essen where he defended his dissertation (Dr. rer. nat., summa cum laude) in 1993. His subsequent research was performed in several leading scientific centers, including Tel Aviv University, where he spent two years as a Fellow of a prestigious Minerva Foundation, and the universities of Düsseldorf and Freiburg. He was also a Guest Professor at the University of Linz (Austria) and a Marie Curie Fellow at the University of Krakow (Poland). In 2003 he earned his Habilitation (Venia Legendi in Physics) at the University of Freiburg and now he holds a privatdozent position in the university of Düsseldorf. Since 2006 he works at the Applied Mathematics Research Centre in Coventry University (UK), where now he holds a reader position.

The scientific interests of Christian von Ferber mainly concern soft matter physics and complex systems. In the course of deep, systematic and vigorous research he became a recognized expert in the fields of statistical physics, polymers and complex network theory. Subjects of his analyses range from complex polymers, colloids and disordered magnets to transportation networks. A particular feature of his scientific approach is the skilful combination of a variety of modern analytical and computational methods. Working in different fields allows him to deploy the methods developed for one branch to another and in such a way to tackle highly complicated problems in sometimes unusual, and always very efficient, ways. Scaling in complex polymer systems, multifractal phenomena, phase behavior of polyelectrolytes and surfractants, network dynamics and attack vulnerability are only some of the phenomena which have recently become better understood due to his devoted work.

Christian von Ferber is also known for his scientific organizational activity. Currently he is involved as a major partner in several research projects on national and international levels, closely collaborating with research groups in France, Germany, Portugal, the USA, and the UK. His collaboration with Ukraine started more than twenty years ago and resulted in numerous common studies. For a long time Christian von Ferber is the member of editorial board of "Condensed Matter Physics". He was the initiator and co-editor of several special issues of this journal, in particular, the first collection of review papers on star polymers. Dr. von Ferber is taking active part in organization of scientific conferences in Ukraine. He is engaged also in preparation of young scientists, giving special courses to students of the Ivan Franko National University of Lviv and the ICMP, co-supervising diploma and PhD theses. Due to his personal initiative in collaboration projects, many Ukrainian young scientists had a possibility to perform research in the leading scientific centers abroad.