New board „HZB Succeed“ has been founded
Members of the board "HZB succeed": The founding meeting showed how important the further development of our early career researchers is.
To support the development of young scientists at HZB in the best possible way - this has been a long-standing goal of the HZB. Now this task will be pursued even more strategically. To this end, the new board “HZB Succeed” has been founded in January 2022.
What does “HZB Succeed” stand for?
The members of this strategically oriented board provide impulses for high-quality support of scientists in the qualification phase, which is oriented towards the latest international standards and also meets the future scientific challenges of the HZB.
The name “HZB Succeed” stands for: HZB support, competence and career advice (for early career researchers development).
“With the strategic board, we have another important building block for optimally setting up and further developing the support of our early career researchers. The first meeting of the board was very motivational and I am looking forward to the lively exchange”, says Bernd Rech, scientific director of the HZB.
What are the goals of “HZB Succeed”?
The goal of this collaborative effort is to connect the scientific needs of the research areas at HZB more strongly to personnel development measures, and to check the current offers from the Graduate Center and the Postdoc Office for their future viability. In addition to academic career paths, non-academic career paths and the respective requirements for early career researchers will be given greater consideration in the HZB offers.
The board meets twice per year. “It is a milestone for the career support of early career researchers. With this, HZB once again makes clear how important it takes its responsibility for temporarily employed scientists”, says Christoph Scherfer, contact person of the Postdoc Office. His colleague from the HZB Graduate Center Nicole Schmid: “The new perspectives on the support of early career researchers at the center will directly benefit our target groups.”
Who is part of the board?
- Bernd Rech, scientific director
- Representatives of the scientific departments: Klaus Habicht, Atoosa Meseck, Roel van de Krol, Renske van der Veen
- On early career researchers support: Nicole Schmid (Graduate Center), Christoph Scherfer (Postdoc Office), Cécile Dufloux (HZB Stab, young investigator groups)
- On Information Technology: Ants Finke (department head IT)
- On Technology Transfer and Innovation: Paul Harten (department head GF-TTI)
- An external member from industry (planned)
- Helmholtz Doctoral Award for Hanna TrzesniowskiDuring her doctoral studies at the Helmholtz Centre Berlin, Hanna Trzesniowski conducted research on nickel-based electrocatalysts for water splitting. Her work contributes to a deeper understanding of alkaline water electrolysis and paves the way for the development of more efficient and stable catalysts. On 8 July 2025, she received the Helmholtz Doctoral Prize, which honours the best and most original doctoral theses in the Helmholtz Association.
- New department at HZB: ‘AI and Biomolecular Structures’Since 1 July 2025, Dr. Andrea Thorn has been setting up the new AI and Biomolecular Structures department at HZB. A biophysicist with many years of experience in AI-based tools for structural biology, she is looking forward to collaborating closely with the macromolecular crystallography team at the MX beamlines of BESSY II.
- Almost 4,000 People at the Long Night of the Sciences at HZBHelmholtz-Zentrum Berlin was delighted to welcome nearly 4,000 visitors to its Adlershof campus for the Long Night of the Sciences. It was a fantastic celebration of science, and we thank all our guests for their great interest.