Bernd Rech becomes provisional Scientific Director of the HZB on May 1, 2017.

Following the succession of long-serving Scientific Director Prof. Anke Kaysser-Pyzalla to President of TU Braunschweig, the Supervisory Board of the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin has appointed Prof. Bernd Rech as provisional Scientific Director. He assumes this position as of May 1, 2017. Bernd Rech has headed the Institute for Silicon Photovoltaics at the HZB since 2006 and is highly esteemed worldwide as an expert in renewable energies.

“As provisional Scientific Director, I will be dedicating myself together with Thomas Frederking to future-oriented projects and expanding the networking of the HZB in order to raise the profile of the Centre’s scientific capabilities. Large scientific projects require creativity and interdisciplinary expertise. They also depend upon good cooperation between the operational and administrative areas, which I will campaign for. I look forward to these additional responsibilities”, says Bernd Rech, the designated provisional Director.

Thomas Frederking, Executive Director of Finance and Administration at HZB, adds: “I am very pleased that Bernd Rech, a scientist with an outstanding reputation in his field and a dedicated science manager, is moving into provisional executive management. I look forward with confidence to close cooperation with him.”

Bernd Rech, vintage 1967, studied physics in Heidelberg and Aachen. He was Group Leader in the area of solar cell technology at Forschungszentrum Jülich from 1999 to 2006. He has headed the Institute for Silicon Photovoltaics at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin since 2006 and became a professor in the faculty of Electrical Engineering and Informatics at Technische University Berlin in 2007. He was also a visiting professor at the University of Ljubljana in Slovenia from 2014 to 2015. He has published over 300 articles in peer-reviewed journals and holds more than ten patents.

Bernd Rech has distinguished himself through comprehensive experience and success in technology transfer. He is Co-Founder of PVcomB, the Competence Centre for Thin-film and Nanotechnology Berlin, offering industrial firms a comprehensive external resource[Anm. des Übers.: Absichtl. Erweiterung] for joint research and development projects with the HZB. In addition, he is one of the scientific minds who designed and drove the set up of the EMIL energy lab (Energy Materials In-Situ Laboratory Berlin) at the BESSY II synchrotron source. EMIL offers unique insights into materials that are able to convert or store energy.

Bernd Rech and a team of international scientists are currently setting up the Helmholtz HySPRINT Innovation Lab (Hybrid Silicon Perowskit Research, Integration & Novel Technologies) that will supplement existing research options and complement the opportunities for technology transfer offered by PVcomB. HySPRINT will conduct R&D on hybrid materials and components based on silicon and perovskite crystals that can be employed for energy conversion in photovoltaics and solar hydrogen production.

Bernd Rech has been involved for many years with the networking of energy research in Germany and transfer of knowledge to society. He has been spokesperson for the Renewable Energies (RE) research program in the Helmholtz Association since 2008 and coordinates the contributions of the Helmholtz Centres within this research area. Moreover, he has taken on numerous positions and voluntary assignments: Bernd Rech is a member of the Board of Directors for the Energy Research Group of the German physics society Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft (DPG), and belongs to the German National Academy of Science and Engineering, where he is an expert involved with its Energy Systems of the Future project. He is a member of the Board of Trustees of the ZSW Centre for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research Baden-Württemberg and that of the “World of Physics” internet portal of the DPG.

In his provisional position, Prof. Bernd Rech succeeds Prof. Anke Kaysser-Pyzalla, who departs April 30 after almost nine years with HZB to become President of the Technische Universität Braunschweig on May 2nd. Ms. Kaysser-Pyzalla has considerably expanded the HZB to a globally recognized research centre. Together with the HZB staff, she has developed the strategy for the future orientation of the Centre in energy material research and prepared the path for further development of the BESSY II photon source. With unconditional support from its shareholders and internal committees, the HZB will energetically implement this strategy and elaborate it in the future.