December 2022, Issue 06

Content

Title: Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

News: TrAIN program strengthens international alumni network

Portrait: HZDR’s chess artist

Launched: Quantum technologies department established

Interview: Large-scale exercise "Kiefernadel" successfully completed

Awarded: EIT CHANGE Award for HIF doctoral student

Notes: Helmholtz anchors Open Science

Press review: Diamonds from plastic waste

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Title

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year …

… to all colleagues and research friends at the HZDR. Between December 23 and January 1, our research center will go into shutdown. Before that, Sebastian M. Schmidt and Diana Stiller look back on an eventful year in our Season’s Greetings and say "Thank you" for your achievements and your commitment. To celebrate the successes of the past months, the Board of Directors brought in some help this time and sent the Christmas letter on a journey around the HZDR. More

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News

TrAIN program strengthens international alumni network

This fall, the HZDR welcomed twelve alumni from around the world at the first international alumni week. During the innovation and exchange program "TrAIN - Train Alumni from Industry for NEXT Gens", the alumni gained insights into current research topics, innovative projects and spin-offs. They also completed several training courses in the field of research and technology transfer. More

Psychological first aid in crisis situations

A falling accident, a cut, a heart attack – in these cases first aid is taken for granted. It's a different story with injuries to the soul, which can be triggered by the illness or death of a relative, for example, or by unexpected events in private or professional life. In these situations, HZDR employees can now turn to psychological first aiders who offer confidential counseling. More

Looking back at the 6th Life Sciences Forum at the HZDR

On December 1, more than 70 representatives from companies and research facilities discussed the future of biotechnology in Saxony as well as the opportunities and challenges of radiopharmacy at the 6th Life Sciences Forum Saxony. The event was hosted by the HZDR. The forum is the annual meeting of stakeholders in the field of life sciences in Saxony. It analyzes current developments and promotes the exchange of information across industries. More

LEAPS network develops European vision

In light of the energy crisis, scientists from LEAPS infrastructures and policy makers met at the Paul Scherrer Institute in Villigen, Switzerland. At the conference, they outlined a future strategy for accelerator-based photon sources in Europe. LEAPS stands for "League of European Accelerator-based Photon Sources". The HZDR is one of the 16 research institutions participating in this network. More

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Portrait

HZDR’s chess artist

Silvio Baier has a rather special hobby. He thinks up chess problems in which a player has to figure out which moves were played to get to a certain position. He is so good at inventing such puzzles, also called "retros", that he is considered one of the best chess composers in the world. The icing on the cake came at this year's World Championship. In the final round Baier beat 22 other competitors to win the world title for the second time in his career. More

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Launched

Quantum technologies department established

At the HZDR Institute for Ion Beam Physics and Materials Research, a new department for Quantum Technologies has been in place since the beginning of November 2022. The department, which is headed by PD Dr. Georgy Astakhov, will address various pillars of quantum technology, including quantum sensing, quantum communication and quantum computing. The strategic goal is to move from basic science to practical applications. More

Cross Mentoring continues into second round

18 managers from ten companies and organizations in Dresden have embarked on an exciting experience: In tandem with a person previously unknown to them, they regularly exchange ideas about their work for a year. The goal: a hierarchy-free exchange across organizational boundaries. The second round of the project "Cross Mentoring" started at the HZDR this fall. More

Kick-off for the EU project NIMFEIA

Many technical systems rely heavily on automatic pattern recognition, as for example autonomous driving. Currently, this is done by software that runs on traditional computer systems. Yet this solution is energy-hungry and cannot be scaled down as needed. Neuromorphic chips are about to change that, as they will be able to recognize patterns on their own, not unlike our brains, using only a fraction of the energy required by conventional systems. Katrin and Helmut Schultheiss from the HZDR Institute for Ion Beam Physics and Materials Research have found an innovative approach to this new technology. In partnership with an international research group, they have launched the EU-funded project NIMFEIA to develop a prototype for industrial production. More

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Interview

Large-scale exercise "Kiefernadel" successfully completed

In September, the HZDR fire brigade rehearsed an emergency together with authorities from the state capital of Dresden. A forest fire was simulated in the eastern part of the site during the large-scale exercise "Kiefernadel" (English: "pine needle"), in which more than 170 emergency personnel were involved. In an interview, security officer Mario Dethloff explains what led the emergency response team to undertake this complex exercise and what insights it brought to light. More

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Awarded

EIT CHANGE Award for HIF doctoral student

Every year, the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) recognizes the achievements of its innovators in the fields of industry and society with the EIT Awards. PhD student Anna Vanderbruggen received the CHANGE Award for her innovative method of recycling graphite from old lithium-ion batteries. She is writing her doctoral thesis on this topic at the Helmholtz Institute Freiberg for Resource Technology (HIF). More

Fritz Straßmann Prize awarded to Moritz Schmidt

In October, the Fritz Straßmann Prize, which is awarded only every four years, went to PD Dr. Moritz Schmidt (left) from the Institute of Resource Ecology. The Nuclear Chemistry Division of the German Chemical Society (GDCh) awards this prize for outstanding achievements in nuclear chemistry. Schmidt achieved this in the field of the actinide element group. The certificate was presented to him at the annual meeting of the GDCh group More

HZDR graduate receives award for PhD thesis

The European Federation of Chemical Engineering (EFCE) has honored Dr. Vineet Vishwakarma with the "EFCE Excellence Award" in the field of fluid separations. The 33-year-old researcher received the prestigious award for his outstanding PhD research conducted at the HZDR, which he defended last year at TU Dresden. Vishwakarma accepted the award on Wednesday, September 21, at the "Distillation & Absorption Symposium 2022" in Toulouse, France. It comes with a prize money of 1,500 Euros. More

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Notes

Helmholtz anchors Open Science

Open science can stimulate innovation, improve transfer to society, and ensure quality and transparency in research. To further support open science practices, the Helmholtz Association has now adopted a new guideline at its General Assembly. It stipulates that scientific articles, research data and research software are to be published openly. Open science is thus to become the standard in publication practice. More

Helmholtz Climate Initiative: Current facts on climate change

The summer of 2022 once again demonstrated the drastic effects of drought, heat and heavy rain. As global warming continues, such extreme weather events will become more frequent in the future. The Helmholtz Climate Initiative, together with five other organizations, has now published an updated collection of facts about all findings on climate change that are undisputed in science. More

A purple glow

In the evening hours of December 2 and 3, 2022, the entrance area at the Rossendorf campus was illuminated in purple. Through this action, the HZDR supported the global campaign #PurpleLightUp, which raises public awareness of the rights and concerns of people with disabilities on the International Day of Persons with Disabilities. "Our center stands for diversity, because diversity means wealth," Administrative Director Dr. Diana Stiller points out. "By participating in the 'PurpleLightUp' campaign, we want to emphasize that our six sites are safe locations for all people to work and research without disturbance." More

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Press review

Diamonds from plastic waste

What's going on inside planets like Uranus and Neptune? To find out, a team under HZDR leadership conducted a novel experiment. The researchers used a laser to bombard a foil made of PET plastic and examined the events with intense X-ray flashes. Plastic represents the atmospheric elements. This allowed them to confirm their hypothesis that rivers of diamonds are probably moving between the surface and the core of the ice giants, as research leader Prof. Dominik Kraus explains in an interview with the BBC. More