Joint graduate school for data science sponsors its first projects
The Helmholtz Association, the Einstein Center Digital Future (ECDF) and the universities of Berlin are creating a new PhD programme in Berlin for the field of data science. Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin is involved in several of the projects. The first training positions are already advertised.
The international graduate school HEIBRiDS is being funded with six million euros. It aims at training PhD students who are researching matters that demand not only great expertise in computer science but also specialised knowledge in other disciplines. The PhD students will acquire a deep understanding of the complex relationships between specialised knowledge, algorithmic skills and application-oriented methodologies.
The graduate school will offer at least 25 doctoral students four years of training. Being organised across several locations, the PhD students can benefit from joint educational offerings and a networked research environment. The interdisciplinary subjects are overseen by supervisor teams comprising one researcher from the Helmholtz Association and one from the Einstein Center ECDF. This year, HZB offers at least two doctoral positions.
The graduate school will draw on the participating institutions’ scientific expertise. Within the Helmholtz centres of the capital region, this expertise spans the fields of medicine, energy research, transportation, geosciences and climatology. The Einstein Center Digital Future researches the core technologies of digitalisation, from digital health and digital industry to the digital humanities.
Application
Click here to see the advertised PhD projects of HEIBRiDS (central recruitment for all Helmholtz-Centers will be managed through the MDC website). Please apply by March 3, 2018.
- Nanosilver as an electrocatalyst for CO₂ reductionVia electrolysis, CO2 can be reduced to CO, a raw material for further chemical products such as fuels. Within the GreenQuest Project, an internation team led by HZB chemist Prashanth Menezes has now systematically investigated catalyst layers made of silver nanoparticles, varying both the size of the particles and their density. The best yield was achieved with nanoparticles with diameters of around 10 nm, which were loosely distributed. Furthermore, they demonstrated how the economic efficiency of the electrochemical cell can be enhanced by integrating an additional chemical reaction at the anode, enabling the simultaneous production of a valuable formic acid, hydrogen, and CO in one device.
- Spin waves inside a nano-oscillator imaged for the first timeFor the first time, researchers have directly imaged the magnetisation dynamics inside a spin Hall nano-oscillator — a nanoscale device that converts direct current into tunable microwave signals and is a promising building block for energy-efficient wireless communication and brain-inspired computing. A Swedish–German team led by the University of Gothenburg and Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB) achieved this using time-resolved scanning transmission X-ray microscopy at the MAXYMUS instrument at BESSY II. The results, now published in Advanced Materials, reveal spin-wave features that had escaped previous, indirect measurement techniques.
- Marcel Risch has been appointed Professor at the Freie Universität BerlinMarcel Risch was appointed to a W2-S professorship in the Department of Physics at Freie Universität Berlin in August 2026. His research group has been transformed into the department 'Mechanisms of Sustainable Electrocatalysis'. Risch investigates the fundamental mechanisms of electrocatalytic reactions and, on this basis, develops knowledge- and data-driven strategies to improve electrocatalysts for the sustainable production of hydrogen, fuels and chemicals.