Poster sessions can be quite frustrating – for everyone. Cognitive research offers tipps for better academic posters: the key message must be easy to grasp at a glance and inspire questions.Read More →
„If only we’d stop trying to be happy we’d have a pretty good time.“ Edith Wharton This topic is quite a controversial and also philosophical one. Let´s be honest here: we can´t guide you to fundamental happiness. There´s no neat trick that works for everyone. If so it would be a more peaceful and relaxed world. What we want to do is make you think. Because even if you´re totally against everything we will write down here: thinking about it may bring you a step further to your version of happiness. So join us on this ride! While being happy might be the ultimate goalRead More →
We often talk about heart and lung health, etc. but we seldom talk about brain health which is undeniably central to all our health. The brain is like any other organ. During our Mental Health Awareness month we actually talk a lot about stress. Stress is often portrayed as having only relatively short lasting psychological impacts, but it also alters the biochemistry happening in your body and especially your brain and therefore actually having also long lasting physiological impacts. So, if you properly take care of it, you will reap the most fulfilling benefits. As the renounced neuroscientist Dr. Daniel Amen [10] said: When yourRead More →
Dear all, it is time for the second newsletter on mental health among doctoral researchers and mental health in science in general. In case you missed the first one, catch up here. This time, we are talking about the statistics. What does the data show regarding mental health in academia and research? How is the Helmholtz Association doing on the topic of mental health, according to the 2019 survey? We wrap up with pointing to some common stressors: how to recognize them in others and ourselves; as well as how to help those who experience these stressors. Last, but not least, we invite you toRead More →
Dear all, October is officially a mental health awareness month. In order to raise awareness among the doctoral researchers, Helmholtz Juniors have prepared a series of informative letters to be sent out each Thursday in the course of October. However, since we – the team of representatives of the doctoral researchers at HZB – believe that this is a topic concerning everyone, we have decided to share some of this information with the whole HZB community. Take a moment, sit back, breathe and relax. We all know that doing a PhD can be really challenging, not only scientifically but also on the personal side. ThereRead More →
During my studentship there is one thing I have discovered above all: patience. Patience is the mother of science, as the saying goes. And I have learned it the hard way. My project is a complex one; like most science projects. I’m trying to synthesize and characterize a new material to act as an absorber of light in solar cells. It is called: copper-barium diselenide. More specifically I want this material to be a top-cell absorber in tandem cells. In fact, this synthesis is not easy: little is known about the compound, and barium is very reactive with oxygen, so one must be very carefulRead More →
When one enters the Lab 120 in the Silicon Photovoltaics institute, the first view of it is this: It was kind of a shock to see all these “hands” floating in the air. They reminded me of an astronaut’s space suit. A very interesting tool, which I was very excited to use. One mission: getting the hands into the glove box A glove box is a device permitting you to do experiments in a different atmosphere as outside. Itis very useful if you work with toxic chemicals like here in the Silicon Photovoltaics Institute. As you handle everything with gloves and it is closed soRead More →
Our Summer Student Daniel talks about his explorations in Berlin. He writes a guide for students with lots of tipps to discover Germany’s capital.Read More →
Tristan Petit is a “Freigeist” Fellow of the Volkswagen Foundation and heads a group on nanocarbon materials at HZB. In the interview with Sophie Spangenberger, he talks about the gradual normalization after the lockdown. This post is for now the last one about the corona period at HZB. How did you experience the confinement and what was the first thing you did when you arrived at the office? I started the lockdown with a move. So at first I was more stressed by the fear of not being able to move than by the corona virus. We spent the first few weeks confined surrounded byRead More →
Today we present two researchers working on the BAMline and µSpot Beamline at BESSY II. Franziska Emmerling is responsible for the Materials Chemistry Department at BAM and heads a large team for structural analysis. Together with her colleague Ana Guilherme Buzanich, she will report on how they experienced the lockdown and are now carrying out their first experiments again. How did the lockdown start for you? Did you have to interrupt an experiment? Franziska: No, we were lucky, our beam time had just ended and we had tons of data that we had to evaluate anyway. I wrote an email to everyone on March 16thRead More →