Prof. Dr. Christoph Helbig, Chair of Ecological Resource Technology at the University of Bayreuth, is investigating framework conditions and measures for the circular economy on an international level in his latest project, using the example of electronics and electric vehicle batteries. The goal is to come up with concrete proposals for a more efficient and environmentally friendly circular economy.
Modern innovation laboratories for small and medium-sized enterprises in the region – with this, the project “TIHO – TechnologyImpactHubs Upper Franconia” aims to support the economy in learning about new and sustainable technologies and implementing them themselves. The Upper Franconia Foundation is funding this project of the Institute for Entrepreneurship & Innovation at the University of Bayreuth with 1.5 million euros from 2023 to 2026.
Sustainability is currently a highly important social topic. When talking about the climate crisis, global inequalities or access to education, sustainable thinking and acting seems to be the ubiquitous solution to the problems., Dr. Karsten Gäbler and Prof. Dr. Uwe Hoßfeld from the University of Jena focus on whether there is a magic formula behind the term or a marketing tool in a publication that has just appeared. Together, the two scientists published the brochure “Sustainability”, which is aimed at the general public, on behalf of the Thuringia State Center for Civic Education.
Friedrich Schiller University Jena and the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (Helmholtz Centre for Materials and Energy, HZB) will jointly establish the “Helmholtz Institute for Polymers in Energy Applications” (HIPOLE) on 1 July 2023. The aim of HIPOLE is to develop sustainable polymer materials for energy technologies that can be rapidly brought into application, in particular polymer-based batteries and perovskite solar cells with polymer additives. HIPOLE will be funded with up to 5.5 million euros per year by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF, 90%) and the Free State of Thuringia (10%). In the start-up phase until 2028, the Free State of Thuringia will additionally fund the new institute with more than ten million euros and take over the financing of the construction costs for the laboratories and offices.
The combination of size, level of automation and flexibility of the new robotics platform at the Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology (Leibniz-HKI) makes it unique in Germany in the academic field. The highly modular system is used by the institute to accelerate the discovery of new antibiotics. It was established together with the company Analytik Jena GmbH+Co. KG and inaugurated on June 15, 2023 in the presence of State Secretary Katja Böhler.
The new junior research group, funded by the Carl-Zeiss-Foundation starts its activities in Jena. The group is led by Dr. Kevin M. Jablonka and will focus on the design and discovery by digital approaches such as machine-learning. The group is currently looking for highly motivated PhD-researchers.
When light hits matter, the interactions depend primarily on the material and the intensity of the light source – a flashlight merely illuminates a stone, while a high-powered laser can burn a hole in it. Such interactions are well known and well described. However, a precise scientific description of the interaction has not yet been achieved for many systems in which light hits nanostructures or atomically thin layers or when the light intensity is extremely high. Since 2019, the Collaborative Research Centre (CRC) 1375 “NOA – Nonlinear Optics down to Atomic Scales” at the University of Jena, Germany has been working on the development of such theories and their practical implementation. The CRC has met with success, as evidenced by the continued funding of the large-scale research project by the German Research Foundation (DFG). The research funding organization has now approved around eleven million euros to support research on light-matter interactions in Jena and at partner institutions for a further four years beginning 1 July, 2023.
The University of Bayreuth has made a significant leap forward in global university comparisons when it comes to implementing the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In the new Impact Ranking 2023 published by Times Higher Education (THE), it is now listed among the top 25 percent in the world. In the “Innovation” category, it is once again among the top 10 percent, although the total number of ranked universities was increased this year by almost 200 universities to 1,591. The University of Bayreuth is fourth place among the German universities listed by THE, and in the category “Sustainable Cities and Communities” it ranks first in a nationwide comparison.
Jena
Prof. Dr. Ulrich S. Schubert
Friedrich Schiller University Jena
Humboldtstraße 10
07743 Jena
Bayreuth
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Holger Ruckdäschel
University of Bayreuth
Universitätsstraße 30
95447 Bayreuth
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