New board „HZB Succeed“ has been founded
Members of the board "HZB succeed": The founding meeting showed how important the further development of our early career researchers is.
To support the development of young scientists at HZB in the best possible way - this has been a long-standing goal of the HZB. Now this task will be pursued even more strategically. To this end, the new board “HZB Succeed” has been founded in January 2022.
What does “HZB Succeed” stand for?
The members of this strategically oriented board provide impulses for high-quality support of scientists in the qualification phase, which is oriented towards the latest international standards and also meets the future scientific challenges of the HZB.
The name “HZB Succeed” stands for: HZB support, competence and career advice (for early career researchers development).
“With the strategic board, we have another important building block for optimally setting up and further developing the support of our early career researchers. The first meeting of the board was very motivational and I am looking forward to the lively exchange”, says Bernd Rech, scientific director of the HZB.
What are the goals of “HZB Succeed”?
The goal of this collaborative effort is to connect the scientific needs of the research areas at HZB more strongly to personnel development measures, and to check the current offers from the Graduate Center and the Postdoc Office for their future viability. In addition to academic career paths, non-academic career paths and the respective requirements for early career researchers will be given greater consideration in the HZB offers.
The board meets twice per year. “It is a milestone for the career support of early career researchers. With this, HZB once again makes clear how important it takes its responsibility for temporarily employed scientists”, says Christoph Scherfer, contact person of the Postdoc Office. His colleague from the HZB Graduate Center Nicole Schmid: “The new perspectives on the support of early career researchers at the center will directly benefit our target groups.”
Who is part of the board?
- Bernd Rech, scientific director
- Representatives of the scientific departments: Klaus Habicht, Atoosa Meseck, Roel van de Krol, Renske van der Veen
- On early career researchers support: Nicole Schmid (Graduate Center), Christoph Scherfer (Postdoc Office), Cécile Dufloux (HZB Stab, young investigator groups)
- On Information Technology: Ants Finke (department head IT)
- On Technology Transfer and Innovation: Paul Harten (department head GF-TTI)
- An external member from industry (planned)
- Catalysis research at HZB gets new facilityAs part of the CatLab project, HZB has acquired a unique facility for measuring the catalytic performance of thin-film catalysts. Built by ILS in Adlershof, it has now been delivered. The facility consists of a total of eight chemical reactors in which catalytic systems can be tested. At over €2.5 million, this is the largest single investment in the CatLab project.
- Humboldt-Fellow at HZB-Institute for Solar Fuels: Alexander R. UhlAlexander R. Uhl, UBC Okanagan School of Engineering in Kelowna, Canada, aims to develop with Roel van de Krol from the HZB Institute for Solar Fuels an efficient and inexpensive photoelectrolyser for producing hydrogen using sunlight. His stay is being funded by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.
- MXene for energy storage: More versatile than expectedMXene materials are promising candidates for a new energy storage technology. However, the processes by which the charge storage takes place were not yet fully understood. A team at HZB has examined, for the first time, individual MXene flakes to explore these processes in detail. Using the in situ Scanning transmission X-ray microscope 'MYSTIIC' at BESSY II, the scientists mapped the chemical states of Titanium atoms on the MXene flake surfaces. The results revealed two distinct redox reactions, depending on the electrolyte. This lays the groundwork for understanding charge transfer processes at the nanoscale and provides a basis for future research aimed at optimising pseudocapacitive energy storage devices.