AI literacy for chemists, scientists and R&D managers. Four live online modules, in German or English.

A language model can write the VBA code for an HPLC calibration in seconds. It can also invent a literature reference that does not exist. This course teaches R&D staff to use AI tools for literature search, data evaluation and documentation, and to check every output before it goes into a report or a decision.

Why now

Article 4 of the EU AI Act (Regulation (EU) 2024/1689, as amended by Regulation (EU) 2026/1744) requires providers and deployers of AI systems to take measures to support the AI literacy of their staff. The law does not prescribe a format. A structured course is one measure you can take and document.

Who should attend

PhD students and scientists in chemistry, food chemistry, pharmacy and related sciences. Lab heads and R&D scientists who use AI tools in their daily work. Team leads who introduce AI in R&D and need to explain their choices to management and IT.

What you will be able to do

• Write prompts that produce checkable results, using the ROLE structure (Role, Objective, Layout, Expectation)
• Choose the right tool for literature search, data evaluation, writing and presentations, and know when a local model is the safer choice for confidential data
• Place an AI use case in the risk classes of the EU AI Act and name the obligations that follow
• Check AI output for plausibility, gaps and invented sources with a step-by-step checklist

Curriculum

Module 1: AI basics and prompting practice (60 min). What a language model does and what it does not do. Why hallucinations come with the system. The ROLE method. Live exercise: good prompt or bad prompt?

Module 2: The AI toolbox for R&D (60 min). Literature search with Elicit. Excel and VBA with AI, shown on an HPLC calibration. Microsoft Copilot. Local language models for confidential data. A short look at AI agents. For every tool: what it is good for, and what not.

Module 3: Legal guardrails (60 min). The EU AI Act: risk classes, the AI literacy duty under Article 4, and what may count as high-risk in chemical R&D. ISO/IEC 42001 as a management system to organise compliance. Do's and don'ts for teams.

Module 4: Validation and use cases (60 min). How to check AI results. A method checklist. Building a narrow assistant for one task. Your own R&D cases, discussed in the group.

Closing discussion and questions.

Format

• Duration: 4 hours live online, four 60-minute modules with breaks (example: 09:00–13:00)
• Language: German or English, stated for each date
• Group size: up to 20 participants
• Method: short inputs, live demos, exercises and case studies; no lab work
• You take home: the slides as PDF and a one-page checklist for validating AI output
• Confirmation of attendance (PDF) listing content and duration, for your AI literacy records

Dates

New dates are coming soon. For a course for your team, please use the contact form.

How booking works

Complete the checkout in CHF or EUR. You receive an invoice by email (How to order). After payment you receive a short preparation note, and we will jointly arrange the training date. Once open dates are published, you can also join one of them.

For companies and universities

I run the course for your team, online or on site, in German or English. In-house courses use examples from your own field, such as your analytical methods, your document types or your regulatory context. Price on request: please use the contact form.

Your trainer

Dr. Thorben Bonarius is a chemist (PhD, University of Marburg) with more than twenty years in research, consulting and regulatory affairs, most recently as Global Head Regulatory Affairs at Siegfried AG. He has taught regulatory courses for the German Chemical Society (GDCh) and is building RegFlow, an AI tool that extracts data from regulatory study reports.

FAQ

Do we need a certificate under Article 4? No. The European Commission's Q&A on AI literacy states: "There is no need for a certificate." Participants receive a confirmation of attendance (PDF) listing content and duration, which you can keep with your records.

Does the course cover the tools we use? Open dates work with common tools such as Elicit, Microsoft Copilot, ChatGPT and local models. In-house courses can focus on the tools your organisation has approved.

In which language? German or English. Each open date states its language; in-house courses run in the language you choose.