By Ivona Kafedjiska. The doctoral researchers at HZB who are working in the field of solar cells might all have different research interests and varying educational backgrounds, but we all agree on one point: attending the QUANTSOL summer school in Hirschegg, Austria is a must.Read More →
After two years of interruption due to the Corona pandemic, HZB finally hosted summer students again this summer. They came from Pakistan, Colombia, Spain, USA, and Korea. A look behind the scenes of the International Summer Student Programme – ISSP.Read More →
by DAAD-summerstudent Laura Berneaga What happens when you stop planning and start letting life flow by itself instead? Many would assume everything would crumble or you would somehow fall behind, but for me the complete opposite was true. This path led me to Germany, something I had been dreaming of doing since the last time I stepped foot in this country. Five years ago, I did a research exchange in Stuttgart and ever since then, all my plans revolved around finding a way to come back here. I enrolled in German language courses, I looked for internship opportunities in the area, I was inquiring aboutRead More →
by summerstudent Oscar Moreno As a master’s student in chemistry, experiments are the basis of my research. The excitement of running an experiment for the first time and the challenge of trying to explain the results keeps me motivated. Nonetheless, in order to pursue things further, my investigation forced me to work during weekends and many times I found myself preparing reports in my room at midnight. I was not aware my acacemic life had come out of the laboratory and was encroaching on other aspects of my life until one of my advisors stopped me. After seeing me working on Saturdays without pausing, heRead More →
by summerstudent Geunwoo Kim Before coming to Berlin, I had never spoken English. In South-Korea, it is not easy to have a chance to speak English in general except for special cases. I was also a student who had never had a chance to speak English. When I applied for the HZB Summer Student Program in February 2022, I was worried about ‘Can I communicate well?’ and ‘Can I do my research well?’ When I received an email from HZB that I was selected for the summer student program, I was happy and worried. The problem was that I had never spoken English. After finishingRead More →
by summerstudent Jorge Torre Ordás If you are reading this, there is around a 40 % chance that you have lived most of your life in a rural area. In my case, this is true, and you must know that, for that reason, I had never traveled neither by plane, train, or tram until the day I arrived in Berlin, in which I did it all at once. Berlin has an astonishing public transport infrastructure, which could not amaze me more when I came to my first day of the HZB Summer Student Programme (2022). The whole transport network is the result of years ofRead More →
by summerstudent Attia Arooj No great things come easily in your life, so as this summer program at HZB. From visa problems as a non european student to accommodation in a crowded city like Berlin, I faced it all. But the real challenge started when I got to see my work place. It was a “Physics” Lab or more technically called Magnetic Resonance Lab equipped with NMR (Nuclear Magnetic Resonance) and EPR (Electron Paramagnetic Resonance) spectrometers. Being a chemist, working in a physics lab was totally new to me. Since college I had always a fear towards this subject which made me run away fromRead More →
by summerstudent Nora Jung Sitting in my organic chemistry class two semesters ago, I heard the whispers of a word repeated often amongst my classmates. I was only in my second year of my undergrad and the pressure of finding a research position was a constant reminder in the back of my head. In January of 2022, I applied for the summer research position at HZB and it felt like a step in the right direction, but I was still unsure about what lay ahead. What does it mean to do research? Am I qualified enough? Will I know the right answers?Read More →
Jongwoo and his team from Seoul are “friendly users”. This name is given to scientists who do their experiments on a pristine machine, before it goes into user operation. Back in Korea we called them to hear more about their special beamtime and what it means for their battery research.Read More →
Recently, Lightsources.org asked scientists at light source facilities from all over the world to record a short video statement, pointing out why and how synchrotron light is useful for their research. The outreach campaign is featuring the variety of research done at light sources in a comprehensible way, easy to understand by all citizens. HZB chemist Marion Flatken took part. She is doing her doctorate on perovskite materials for solar cells in Antonio Abate’s team. Why did you take part in the #LightSourceSelfie campaign? For me it’s important to make transparent how we work in research. Actually, this is also in the spirit of HermannRead More →