Quick Facts
Biography
Renée Schroeder (born 18 May 1953 in João Monlevade, Brazil) is an Austrian researcher and university professor at the Department of Biochemistry at the Max F. Perutz Laboratories of the University of Vienna and the Medical University of Vienna.
Life
Renée Schroeder was born on Brazil where her father worked as an electrical engineer. They left Brazil when she was 14.
Her research is in the field of biochemistry, especially on RNA (ribonucleic acid). From June 2001 to November 2005, she was on the Bioethics Commission, launched by the Austrian government. From 2005 to 2010, she was Vice-President of the Fund for Scientific Research and in 2010 member of the Council for Research and Technology Development since September.
She has also repeatedly been critical of the Austrian education and research policy. In particular, she criticized discrimination against women within the university structures, so she is particularly involved in the promotion of women in science.This long-lasting commitment earned her the 2001 Special Honor Award "For Women in Science", donated by UNESCO and the company L'Oreal, and in 2007, she was awarded the Vienna Women's Prize. Schroeder also spoke frequently to church and religion and their women and worldview.
In 2003, Schroeder was elected the second woman member of the Mathematics and Natural Sciences of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. In May 2012, Renée Schroeder resigned from the Academy, to protest the lack of promotion of excellence and the high proportion of Austrian Catholic German Student Fraternity members in the Academy.
Awards
- 1984: Theodor Körner Prize
- 2002 Wissenschaftlerin des Jahres (gewählt von den österreichischen Wissenschaftsjournalisten).
- 2003 Wittgenstein-Preis
- 2005 Preis der Stadt Wien für Natur- und Technische Wissenschaften
- 2007 Wiener Frauenpreis
- 2011 Eduard Buchner Preis
- 2012 Wissenschaftsbuch des Jahres 2012, Kategorie Medizin und Biologie, für „Die Henne und das Ei. Auf der Suche nach dem Ursprung des Lebens“
- 2015 Goldenes Ehrenzeichen für Verdienste um das Land Wien