Two new postdocs at HZB receive Helmholtz funding

Dr. Daniel Schick and Dr. Katja Höflich have achieved success in the Helmholtz postdoctoral programme. They will each be receiving “starting capital” of 300,000 EUR for the next three years in order to further establish themselves in their research field.

Daniel Schick has recently completed his doctoral dissertation in physics at the University of Potsdam, Germany. The topic of his dissertation: “Setup of a Laser-Based Diffractometer for Femtosecond Hard X-Ray Diffraction Experiments on the Ultrafast Lattice Dynamics in Photoexcited Nanostructures”. He will now be collaborating with Prof. Alexander Föhlisch, head of the HZB Institute of Methods and Instrumentation for Synchrotron Radiation Research.

Katja Höflich completed her doctoral studies in physics at Martin Luther University, Halle-Wittenberg in 2011 (dissertation topic: “Plasmonic Properties of Metal-Containing Nanostructures”). She has been carrying out research since that time as a postdoc at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light at Erlangen, Germany, in the group headed by Adj. Prof. Silke Christiansen. As a Helmholtz postdoc now, she will continue collaborating with Silke Christiansen, who is setting up the new HZB Institute named Nanoarchitectures for Energy Conversion.
 
Postdocs are assigned a mentor to be at their sides as soon as they are accepted in the programme. With the financial support, the young researchers are able to afford to pay for their own position and a technical assistant as needed, as well as their travel expenses. In addition, they are expected to complete a foreign research residency as part of the programme, the goal and content of which they can determine themselves. Above and beyond this, they can take advantage of the advanced training segments offered by the Helmholtz Management Academy to enhance their management skills and expertise. 
 
Attractive international programme
 
The 20 scientists who prevailed in stiff competition were evaluated by independent international experts during a multi-round process. A total of 119 junior scientists from 18 different Helmholtz Centres registered their interest in the new programme. The Centres submitted 66 competitors. In the final round, 20 scientists were selected, of which 11 are women. Half of the recipients of the support are foreign-born.

The next postdoc programme will open for applications in early 2014.
 
Further information: http://www.helmholtz.de/postdoc