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In: Careers, Conference, PhDlife, Science Communication

Even at scientific conferences, audiences sometimes appreciate a drawing that summarises complex issues in an original way. But what if you don’t have the time or experience to draw such illustrations yourself? Faidra Amargianou simply asks ChatGPT to create surprisingly well-functioning cartoons that convey the main messages of her work. Here she explains how she does it. Faidra is a PhD student in Tristan Petit’s group at HZB. In her final year, she is currently writing her thesis. When she presents her results, whether at conferences or for a press release, she sometimes makes cartoons to communicate the main messages. Question: Do you have aRead More →

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In: Energymaterials, Lightsources, PhDlife

Science produces fascinating images. For two weeks, the most beautiful scientific images were exhibited in the foyer of the BESSY II X-ray source in Berlin-Adlershof. But it’s about much more than aesthetics: Helmholtz Imaging offers a great network that bundles expertise in imaging. Researchers benefit from this unbureaucratically and completely free of charge. Philipp Heuser from Helmholtz Imaging told me exactly what’s behind it during a roadshow at HZB.Read More →

Two doctoral students in front of BESSY cafeteria entrance

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In: PhDlife

They could be busy enough inside the lab, but they are active as well in the HZB DocTeam and in Helmholtz-Juniors (HeJus), which represents the interests of all doctoral researchers across Helmholtz Association (HGF). At the recent HeJu-retreat Namrata Sharma was elected as vice speaker of the Events Team and Thomas Gries as vice speaker of the Working Conditions Team. A short conversation about what, how and why?Read More →

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In: Energymaterials

A group of 14 volunteers gathered one week on Zoom. From morning coffee until late in the night, they tackled intricate problems and worked out great solutions based on machine learning for digital twins of batteries or for predicting cracks in materials. “This year, we had the most successful hackathon so far, it was incredible,” says HZB data scientist Gregor Hartmann, who initiated the Hackathon. Many problems in research require a deep understanding of the material as well state of the art knowledge in methods of artificial intelligence. “You need this very close collaboration between the domain scientists and the data scientists, says Gregor Hartmann,Read More →

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In: BESSYBeamlineScientists, Energymaterials, Lightsources, PhDlife, Science Communication

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 →

coral

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In: Careers, International, Lightsources, PhDlife, Science Communication, Students

A few weeks ago, I discovered utterly beautiful pictures in our Twitter timeline: filigree, radially symmetrical structures that looked like art objects. They were tiny corals that had just formed their first skeleton. The pictures had been taken at the BAMline at BESSY. They triggered my curiosity and I contacted the scientist who had posted them. Federica Scucchia replied right away and we arranged to meet next time she would be in Berlin.Read More →

Scientists in the laboratory

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In: Careers, International, PhDlife, Students

Erika Zaiser is working on her doctoral thesis on superalloys at HZB. She studied in Berlin and Tomsk, Russia, and graduated from TU Berlin with a double Master’s degree in physical engineering. She did her Master’s thesis at HZB, and her supervisor at the time, Dr Florian Vogel, is now also supervising her doctorate. However, he now lives in China. In the interview, I asked Erika how such a doctorate over distance is possible. At the end of the interview, Florian also joined in.Read More →