© Silvia Zerbe
Goodbye and Auf Wiedersehen!
Heloise da Silva (left) received the Best Poster Award by postdoctoral scientist Feray Ünlü (right), selected according to design, science communication and content.
© Silvia Zerbe
The post of Gia Van Tran (left) got most “green dots”. He received a “little diamond” solar lamp as award by Antonia Rötger (right), who supervised the blog project.
© Silvia Zerbe
They came from all over the world to work 8 weeks in the labs of HZB: From China, Philippines, India, Pakistan, Vietnam, Usbekistan, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, USA, Greece, Spain, England, Algeria, Egypt, Kenya and South Africa.
© Silvia Zerbe
Some students overcame big obstacles to join the International Summer Students Programme at HZB: Traveling 12 hours by bus across the Andes to obtain a visa in Bogotá, borrowing money from here and there to pay the fees for formalities, and maintaining hope when the visa was delayed. One student visited the embassy every day for two weeks, leaving a yellow envelope with a polite reminder each time. And even with a visa, problems could arise last minute. Another student was already at the airport when he was denied boarding because he did not have a return ticket yet. He called our HZB colleagues who answered the phone at 10pm and found a quick solution.
The most important qualities
Perseverance and motivation, these are the qualities of our summer students this year and I am sure they will help them also to blossom in the future, in academia or elsewhere.
At the final presentation, all 20 students were excited and eager to present their projects through a flash talk and an eye-catching poster. They were keen to discuss the science and engage with the audience.
The awards
Two awards were given, the best poster award and an award for the most interesting blog post. The award for the best poster went to Heloise da Silva from Brazil. She investigated MXenes, a new type of energy storage material with many different talents. Her poster was very well designed, she explained it to different audiences with great clarity and could answer even the most difficult questions.
All students in ISSP2024 had written about their experiences and their projects, and many colleagues had read them with great pleasure. At the final presentation, students and audience could cast their votes by distributing three green dots among the 20 posts. Since all posts got a lot of these green dots, it was certainly a difficult decision. But in the end, it was clear: The prize went to Gia Van Tran from Vietnam for his funny and realistic account of the struggle between plans and reality.
We wish all our summer students every success in their next steps: Good luck and maybe: “Auf Wiedersehen”!
- Beyond Global Maxima: My ISSP Journey in BerlinBeing accepted into the 2026 International Summer Student Program (ISSP) at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin was one of the best pieces of news I have ever received. I still remember waking up in the middle of the night, checking my email, and reading the acceptance letter. It didn't feel real.
- Finding the Stories Behind ScienceI've always thought about the correlation between art and science, and how art can symbolize science in ways that add to it and make it more than just the trials or the data you try to interpret.
And you can see this through a spin coater.
A machine designed for thin-film coating can create something that resembles a beautiful flower.
And that's where my story begins.
- From Curiosity to ContributionEvery morning begins the same way. I put on my lab coat, prepare my electrochemical setup, and wait for the first measurement of the day to appear on my screen. Even though I have repeated the procedure many times over the past weeks, I still find myself wondering: Will today's experiment behave differently from yesterday's?
That question has quietly become my favourite part of my internship at Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin.