Registration now open! Summer School Quantsol
Learning in green surroundings: In 2014 the summer students came from all over the world to meet solar energy experts.
The International Summer School Quantsol will inform on basics in photovoltaics and solar energy conversion
For the eighth time already young solar energy researchers are invited to attend the International Summer School on Photovoltaics and New Concepts of Quantum Solar Energy Conversion (Quantsol). The school will be held from September 6th to 13th, 2015 in Hirschegg, Kleinwalsertal, Austria. The school is organized by the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin together with the Technical University of Ilmenau. Application can be submitted through the school’s homepage until May 31st, 2015.
“The Quantsol summer school has become a “must” for the next generation of solar energy researchers” says Prof. Dr. Klaus Lips from Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin. “From the participating students we have received an overwhelmingly positive feedback and maybe that is one of the reasons that the school is always oversubscribed. The school addresses young postdocs, PhD students, and master students in their final year at university and we offer them a very comprehensive introduction into the field of photovoltaics and photocatalysis”.
Invited speakers, all recognized scientists from leading world institutions, will give lectures covering a wider range of topics on the fundamental principles of the conversion of solar energy into chemical and electrical energy as well as the physical and technical challenges. Another focus will be on material science and their specific characterization methods.
Further information on the Quantsol Summer School can be found on the homepage as well as in our flyer. Deadline for application is Mai 31, 2015. Here you get directly to the application form.
If you cannot attend this years’ Quantsol summer school – no worries - the next school is already scheduled for September 4th to 11th, 2016.
More Information: quantsol@helmholtz-berlin.de
- Cool vaccines in rural Kenya: solar solution has been awarded by UNIn May 2026, Tabitha Awuor Amollo is spending some weeks as a guest scientist at HZB, analysing perovskite thin films at BESSY II. The Kenyan physicist from Egerton University, Nairobi, was recently recognised for her achievements in research and teaching. For the development of a solar-powered refrigeration system for use in rural health centres, she has been awarded the 2026 Organization for Women in Science for the Developing World (OWSD)-Elsevier Foundation Award. An interview on exceptional projects and daily struggles of a scientist. Questions were asked by Antonia Rötger.
- Too old for research at 60? From nuclear physics to papyrus researchA career in science can be personally fulfilling. However, this also means accepting the unpredictable: research topics may no longer receive funding, and laboratories may close. Heinz-Eberhard Mahnke experienced this first-hand when he had to seek new challenges in his early 60s. Today, the 81-year-old is still active in research, using non-destructive measurement methods to examine ancient artefacts of inestimable cultural value. Antonia Rötger spoke with this extraordinary researcher, whose curiosity and drive are truly inspiring.
- Electrocatalysts: New model for charge separation at the solid-liquid interfaceHydrogen is at the heart of the transition to carbon neutrality, as both an energy carrier and a reagent for green chemistry. However, large-scale production of hydrogen via electrolysis, as well as the production of many other chemical products, requires significantly cheaper and more efficient catalysts. A precise understanding of the electrochemical processes that take place at the interface between the solid catalyst and the liquid medium is highly useful for developing better electrocatalysts. In the journal Nature Communications, an European team has now presented a powerful model that determines charge separation at the interface, the formation of the electric double layer and local electric potential variations, and the resulting influence on the catalytic activity.