INSIDER Newsletter - Issue 03, May/June 2022

Inhalt

HZDR Awards 2021

Surprising turbulence

HZDR goes for flexible working model

Stardust in the classroom

Working Group on Equal Opportunities and Diversity has been launched

For more participation in working life

HZDR Summer Party: Registration open until June 30

Nobel laureate visits TU Dresden

Refrigerator without compressor

---

HZDR Awards 2021: Recognition for outstanding achievements

At the ceremony in the great lecture hall, Scientific Director Prof. Sebastian M. Schmidt and Administrative Director Dr. Diana Stiller bestowed prizes in four categories. This year, the research prize went to Dr. Katrin Schultheiß. The physicist is using the human brain as a model to develop a new type of computer architecture. To this end, she is researching the nonlinear interactions of spin waves in the smallest magnetic structures. More

---

Surprising turbulence

Some metals are in liquid form, the prime example being mercury. But there are also enormous quantities of liquid metal in the Earth’s core, where temperatures are so high that part of the iron is molten and undergoes complex flows. A team at the HZDR has now simulated a similar process in the laboratory and made a surprising discovery: Under certain circumstances, the flow of liquid metal is far more turbulent than expected – and this has a significant impact on heat transport. More

Detecting Heavy Metals in Hair Samples

South Africa is home to the largest known gold deposit on earth, the Witwatersrand basin not far from Johannesburg. During the mining of the desired precious metal, toxic mining waste also comes to the surface as a byproduct. An international team involving scientists from the HZDR is helping to determine the uranium contamination and which population groups are particularly at risk. More

---

REWE Team Challenge Dresden: HZDR well represented with 19 teams

Once again this year, a large number of sports enthusiasts from the HZDR took part in the REWE Team Challenge Dresden, the largest company run in Eastern Germany. At the 13th edition of the event, 76 runners from different departments and institutes of our research center participated on Wednesday, May 25. Together they formed 19 teams. More

HZDR goes for flexible working model

Up to 50 percent of working hours can be performed flexibly between 6 a.m. and 9 p.m. in the mobile office: With the new company agreement, which came into effect in May, the HZDR is setting the course for the work of the future. The agreement is based on an employee survey conducted by the HR department last fall. More

Position of security officer occupied again

Since the beginning of the year, Mario Dethloff has been the new security officer at the Dresden-Rossendorf site. In this function, he is the contact person for employees of the HZDR and the VKTA for all security-relevant issues – including property protection, locking and identification systems, operation of the alarm center, and security issues on the site. More

---

Stardust in the classroom

With his enthusiasm for nuclear astrophysics and environmental physics, Dominik Koll won the "Particle Physics" round of the "I'm a Scientist" online competition in November 2021. This gave him 500 euros for a science communication project at his disposal. It didn't take him very long to get a brilliant idea of how to invest his prize money – it dropped into his mailbox just one month later. But read for yourself what the doctoral student from the Institute of Ion Beam Physics and Materials Research reports. More

---

Working Group on Equal Opportunities and Diversity has been launched

The call for participation in the new Equal Opportunity and Diversity Working Group has generated great interest. From all the applications received, 14 employees were selected who come from different sites and areas of the HZDR. By now the new group has met for its first meetings chaired by the Equal Opportunity Officer Franziska Hübner. More

Looking back at the first BlitzLab Symposium

How can semiconductor materials be heated with flashes and what advantages does this bring for applications in battery technology, transistors or the production of printed electronics? These were the key questions of the first BlitzLab symposium held at HZDR in April. The Helmholtz Innovation Lab BlitzLab invited around 40 representatives from industry and science to the HZDR. More

---

For more participation in working life

From individual consultation to assistance with the hiring process and workplace design – the Representatives of disabled employees (SBV) support employees with disabilities in a variety of ways. For some time now, the team has been faced with a challenge: the share of disabled people in the total number of employees continues to decline. Together with an internal working group, the SBV is looking for solutions on how the HZDR can become an even more attractive employer for disabled persons. More

---

HZDR Summer Party: Registration open until June 30

Please keep in mind: Employees can register themselves and company for this year's Summer Party until June 30. The festive event for the whole family will take place on September 6 in a relaxed atmosphere on the campus in Dresden-Rossendorf. An exciting and diverse program with music, sports, art and games is planned. The exact program will soon appear on the intranet. Click on the following link to go directly to the registration page. More

Save the Dates: Science Nights in Saxony

Three Science Nights are scheduled in Saxony this summer. And the HZDR is involved in all events! The first one is the Freiberg Night of Science and Business on June 18. Under the motto "nachhaltig. forschen. wirtschaften. leben." the university, city institutions and the HIF will provide insights into topics from science, research and business. Next up on July 1 are Zittau and Görlitz, where the Center for Advanced Systems Understanding (CASUS) will participate along with eight other partners. Finally, on July 8, Dresden's universities and non-university research institutions will invite to their Science Night with the slogan "3, 2, 1 ... Science!" For more information on the programs, please visit our events page. More

New image film: The HZDR in four and a half minutes

A journey into the realm of knowledge: The new image film of the HZDR has been completed and released at the end of May 2022. In addition, there is a 30-second trailer. The film and trailer can now be viewed and downloaded from the website. The English version will be available from mid-June. Even though only a few employees are featured in the film, a large number of colleagues supported the project during the brainstorming phase, the site visits, the selection of locations and the filming. Therefore, the image film is a kind of collaborative work of the HZDR! (English version coming soon) More

---

Calendar

Nobel laureate visits TU Dresden

June 8 | 7 p.m.

With Sir Andre Geim, one of the "pop stars of science" is coming to TU Dresden. The physicist and Nobel laureate experienced a true eureka moment in 2004 when, in experiments with sticky tape after work, he discovered a two-dimensional material that until then had only existed in theory – graphene, which consists of carbon particles arranged in a hexagonal lattice and only one atom thick. His public lecture will focus on this discovery and the promising properties of graphene. More

Youth Climate Conference 2022 in Saxony

June 10 | from 10 a.m.

At the Saxon Youth Climate Conference 2022, students have the opportunity to learn about topics such as the energy transition and mobility of the future and then discuss them in various forums. The HIF is participating in the category Sustainable Living with the item "The cell phone - the source of raw materials in your pocket". Starting at 11:30 a.m., Dr. Robert Möckel will provide information on the topics of raw material cycles and recycling, answer questions and use examples to encourage a more sustainable use of our resources. More

Career Lunch Talk #6 with Isabell Hilger

June 30 | 12 - 12.45 p.m.

"No fear of lateral entry - a dance on the academic edge" is the topic at the 6th Career Lunch Talk, jointly hosted by the Alumni Network and the Postdoc Center. Guest is Dr. Isabell Hilger, alumna of the Institute of Ion Beam Physics and Materials Research. After completing her doctorate, she further trained as a quality manager and now works for the company qualitype GmbH in Dresden. More

---

Refrigerator without compressor

Certain alloys get warm when a magnetic field is applied. For some time now, researchers have been trying to use the effect in the opposite direction – for magnetic cooling without any coolants that are harmful to the climate. Dr. Tino Gottschall talks about what has become of this idea and what future prospects there are in the field of magnetocalorics in an interview with Deutschlandfunk. More