svatunek // lab

About Assistant Prof. Dr. Dennis Svatunek

Dennis Svatunek is a computational and physical organic chemist at TU Wien, where he leads a research group developing methods for the design and mechanistic understanding of chemical reactions. His work combines computational approaches, including energy decomposition analysis and data-driven modeling, to control reactivity and selectivity.

He studied Technical Chemistry at TU Wien (BSc 2011, MSc 2013, both with honors) and obtained his PhD in 2016 under the guidance of Prof. Günter Allmaier in collaboration with Dr. Hannes Mikula. He subsequently worked with F. M. Bickelhaupt (VU Amsterdam) and, as an Austrian Science Fund Schrödinger Fellow, in the laboratory of K. N. Houk (UCLA). He returned to TU Wien in 2020 to establish his independent research program.

• BSc 2011, MSc 2013 (both with honors), Technical Chemistry, TU Wien
• PhD TU Wien, 2016 (with honors), supervised by Prof. Günter Allmaier in collaboration with Dr. Hannes Mikula
• Research stay with F. M. Bickelhaupt, VU Amsterdam
• Schrödinger Fellow, laboratory of K. N. Houk, UCLA (2018–2020)
• Independent PI at TU Wien since 2020

• EuChemS Young Chemists’ Award Finalist (2024)
• Theodor Körner Prize (2021)
• FWF ESPRIT Fellowship (2021)
• UCLA Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry Postdoctoral Research Award (2020)
• FWF Schrödinger Fellowship (2018)