As Head of the Marketing, Sales and Communications department at the Mainfranken Theater, Britta Grigull has been helping to raise the profile and promote Würzburg as a cultural location since September 2015. Now the communications expert is moving from the designated state theater to the Helmholtz Institute for RNA-based Infection Research (HIRI) on 1 February 2021 and will in future devote herself to promoting the excellence of Würzburg as a science location.
"HIRI is growing, and the communication tasks are growing with it. From the developments in single-cell research to the upcoming new building of our institute to the Excellence Strategy 2025, there are numerous topics ahead, and we are very pleased to be able to tackle them together with Britta Grigull in the future," says Alice Hohn, HIRI's head of administration.
With more than 41,000 employees and an annual budget of five billion euros, the Helmholtz Association is Germany's largest scientific organisation and strives to attract the best talent in all fields. Being able to work in this environment in the future is a wonderful motivation, says Britta Grigull: "I'm looking forward to shaping HIRI's communications work and making this local top research even more visible. At the same time, I'm grateful for the great time I've had at the Mainfranken Theater and I'm looking forward to not having to give up Würzburg and the network I have here."
General Artistic Director Markus Trabusch: "It was a great fortune to be able to count on Britta Grigull's communications and marketing expertise in the numerous challenges and projects of the Mainfranken Theater over the past years. I am reluctant to let Britta Grigull go, but I am very happy for her new professional perspective and that we can continue to pursue common ideas and projects in Würzburg. I wish her every success and all the best for her start at HIRI."
Britta Grigull studied art history, psychology and modern German literature and subsequently distinguished herself in corporate communications and marketing for cultural and scientific institutions. In addition to the designated state theater in Würzburg, her previous professional stations include the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin and the Stiftung Preußische Schlösser und Gärten Berlin-Brandenburg (Prussian Palaces and Gardens Foundation Berlin-Brandenburg) in Potsdam, where she headed corresponding departments. At HIRI, where her position has been newly created, she will in future manage tasks in the field of press and public relations (PR) and establish it and an associated strategy at the Würzburg location.
Cutting-edge research at the interface of RNA and infections
HIRI was founded in May 2017 as a partnership between the Braunschweig Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) and the JMU. As the first institute of its kind worldwide, it researches the importance of ribonucleic acids (RNA) in infection processes. Among the most recent research successes, in which HIRI is significantly involved, are new findings on the direct interactions between the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus and the human host cells it infects.
The HZI in Braunschweig with HIRI at the associated site in Würzburg is one of 19 Helmholtz Centres in Germany. Its scientific work creates the basis for novel therapies and vaccines against bacterial and viral infectious diseases. The Helmholtz Association conducts research in the fields of science and technology as well as medicine and biology on the major and pressing issues facing society, science and industry.
Future press contact details
Helmholtz Institute for RNA-based Infection Research (HIRI)
Josef-Schneider-Str. 2/D15
97080 Würzburg
Germany
Contact person for press and public relations:
Dr Britta Grigull
+49 (0)931-3181801
britta.grigull(at)helmholtz-hiri.de
