Rate My Professor Lars Goerigk

Associate Professor Lars Goerigk is a prominent figure in theoretical and computational quantum chemistry at the School of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, University of the Melbourne. He completed his studies in Chemistry at the University of Münster, Germany, earning a Diplom with distinction in 2008 and a PhD (Dr. rer. nat.) in Theoretical Chemistry summa cum laude in 2011, both under Prof. Stefan Grimme. After a short postdoctoral position at Münster, he joined the University of Sydney as a Postdoctoral Fellow with Prof. Jeffrey R. Reimers from 2011 to 2014. In 2014, Goerigk moved to the University of Melbourne as an ARC Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA) Fellow (Level A then B), advancing to Lecturer in 2016 (tenured August 2019), Senior Lecturer in 2019, and Associate Professor since January 2023. He leads the Goerigk Research Group within the Melbourne Centre for Theoretical and Computational Chemistry.

Goerigk's research centers on developing accurate quantum-chemical methods, especially advanced density functional theory (DFT) approaches including double hybrids and time-dependent DFT for excited states, applied to organic, inorganic, physico-, and biochemical systems. His group has established key benchmarking databases such as GMTKN55 for general main group thermochemistry, kinetics, and noncovalent interactions; INV24 for inversion and racemization barriers; CHAL336 for chalcogen bonding; and MME55 for metalloenzyme reactions. Notable publications include 'Effect of the damping function in dispersion corrected density functional theory' (Journal of Computational Chemistry, 2011), 'A thorough benchmark of density functional methods for general main group thermochemistry, kinetics, and noncovalent interactions' (Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, 2011), and 'A look at the density functional theory zoo with the advanced GMTKN55 database' (Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, 2017), amassing over 38,000 citations with an h-index of 40 (Google Scholar). His impact is evidenced by awards including the 2022 Pople Medal from the Asia-Pacific Association of Theoretical & Computational Chemists, 2022 Dean’s Award for Excellence in Research (Mid-Career), 2020 Rennie Memorial Medal, 2019 Le Fèvre Medal, and 2017 RACI Physical Chemistry Division Lectureship. Goerigk serves as Associate Editor for Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, on the Editorial Advisory Board of The Journal of Computational Chemistry, and in various university committees. He ranks among Australia's top 250 scientists in 2026 and as a leading researcher in Spectroscopy & Molecular Physics.