Friedrich-Alexander Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg appoints Olga Kasian
Olga Kasian has accepted a professorship at the Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU).
Dr. Olga Kasian is investigating why catalysts for hydrogen production by water electrolysis are limited in efficiency. The chemist has now accepted a professorship at the Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU). The W2 professorship is entitled "Materials for Electrochemical Energy Conversion" and is located at the Faculty of Engineering.
Olga Kasian completed her doctorate in 2013 at the State University of Chemical Technology in Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine, and was awarded as best young scientist of Dnepropetrovsk region in field of chemical technology. After a first postdoctoral stay in Germany, she joined the Max Planck Institute for Iron Research in Düsseldorf as an Alexander von Humboldt Research Fellow in 2015. That year she got the Award of the President of Ukraine for Young Scientists. Since May 2019, she has been leading the Helmholtz Young Investigator Group 'Dynamic Electrocatalytic Interfaces' at HZB and the Helmholtz Institute Erlangen-Nuremberg for Renewable Energies (HI-ERN).
Together with her team, she is investigating how the catalytically active surfaces change under reaction conditions, using a wide range of methods including state of the art spectroscopy techniques available at the EMIL-Lab at the synchrotron radiation source BESSY II.
- AI-driven Catalyst Discovery: €30 million funding for German consortiumSix partners from research and industry, including Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB), the Fritz-Haber-Institute of the Max Planck Society (FHI), BASF, Dunia Innovations, Siemens Energy, and the Technical University Berlin are launching a joint project to accelerate the catalyst discovery. The German Federal Ministry for Science, Technology and Space (BMFTR) is providing €30 million in funding for ASCEND (Accelerated Solutions for Catalysis using Emerging Nanotechnology and Digital Innovation). The research initiative targets the defossilisation of energy-intensive industries while safeguarding industrial competitiveness, with a focus on the chemical sector. The five-year project will start on 1st April 2026.
- Berlin Battery Lab: BAM, HZB and HU are conducting joint research on sodium batteriesThe Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing (BAM), the Helmholtz Zentrum Berlin (HZB) and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (HU) today officially inaugurated the Berlin Battery Lab (BBL). At this new research platform, BAM, HZB and HU jointly develop and test resource-efficient battery technologies with a focus on sodium-based systems. Together, they develop new materials, investigate innovative cell chemistries, and produce battery prototypes. The research infrastructure of the Berlin Battery Lab is also open to external partners from science and industry and is designed to accelerate the transfer from research to application.
- Humboldt-Fellow at HZB: Kayode Adesina AdegokeKayode Adesina Adegoke is a renowned chemist, affiliated with LAUTECH SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities Research Group), Department of Pure and Applied Chemistry, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso, Nigeria. He is collaborating with Matthew Mayer, head of the "Electrochemical Conversion group", to investigate the degradation of electrocatalysts during electrochemical CO₂ reduction. The Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship enables him to stay at Helmholtz Zentrum Berlin up to 24 months.