TU Professor Thomas Wallis receives ERC Consolidator Grant

How do we perceive the individual objects in a scene even if they are only partially visible? And how do we learn this so-called segmentation from visual experience? This is now being investigated by researchers at TU Darmstadt. The European Research Council is funding the project with a renowned ERC Consolidator Grant to the tune of approximately two million euros.

Following the initiative of Wrocław University of Science and Technology, Unite! has invited seven universities from Ukraine to collaborate

The tertiary institutes will implement the “Green Transformation at Ukrainian Universities” project, funded by the National Academic Exchange Agency. The main objective is to support the academic community of Ukraine by engaging partner institutions in regular activities under the Unite! Erasmus+ programme, this work will be carried through by Unite!’s community devoted to “An Open Innovation Community for the Green Transition”, led by Wrocław University of Science and Technology. A second, equally important objective is to establish permanent cooperation between Ukrainian universities and Unite!, which will facilitate the country's post-war reconstruction process, as well as constituting an important step in the process of its integration into the European Union.

An interview with the new Humboldt Professor Angela Yu

The US cognitive scientist Angela Yu has started her Humboldt Professorship for “Computational and Cognitive Neuroscience” at TU Darmstadt on 1 December 2022. The 45-year-old was previously Assistant Professor (2008-2015) and Associate Professor (2015-2022) at the University of California San Diego. We asked her a few questions about her start at TU Darmstadt.

Rhine-Main Universities selected for pilot project

The Science Meets Regions programme of the European Commission is promoting science-policy dialogue at regional and local levels. As part of the programme, the Rhine-Main Universities – Technical University of Darmstadt, Goethe University Frankfurt and Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz – will offer dialogue opportunities for policy professionals from Hessian and Rhineland-Palatinate state institutions and city administrations on issues concerning green and digital transformations.

Share your vision of the university of the future and participate in the Unite! Student Festival

Gather a team of students in Unite! universities, prepare a video with your vision of the university of the future and compete with other teams to win a participation on the Unite! Student Festival in Lisbon.

Interdisciplinary research project for all Unite! students

Unite! students have until the 15th of January to apply to take part in an interdisciplinary real-life research project for the solution of an important challenge related to the sustainability of the Oceans. ULISSES – University of Lisbon Interdisciplinary Studies on Sustainable Environment and Seas is a project that will provide students with a deep knowledge of ocean related problems.

Determined and combative – TU alumnus Michael Fitzke in portrait

Michael Fitzke is a fighter. With lots of motivation and firm determination he worked for his enrolment in Mathematics at TU Darmstadt; after all, his parents had not gone to university, and he had to take the route via an Advanced Vocational Certificate of Education. “The first two semesters were tough,” the alumnus says, “but after that, I really enjoyed it.” His sense of purpose has led him to his present leadership position with the US corporation Mars. As a specialist for Machine Learning and Big Data analysis, Fitzke works on developing AI systems in veterinary medicine with the objective to enable vets to make faster and more precise diagnoses in cases of cancer, coronary diseases, or joint problems in pets.

The University Assembly elects new Vice Presidents

A new Executive Board – including three newly elected members and one reappointed member – will take up its duties on 1 January 2023. The candidates proposed by TU President Professor Tanja Brühl were thus elected by the University Assembly.

PhD network MetRaZymes receives funding as Marie Skłodowska-Curie action

TU Darmstadt coordinates the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Network “Metal-Containing Radical Enzymes – MetRaZymes” under the leadership of Professor Nico Bruns from the Department of Chemistry. The project, funded by the EU, Switzerland and the UK with more than three million euros, will enable 13 PhD students to develop novel enzymes as environmentally friendly and efficient catalysts for radical reactions to produce drugs, polymers and other chemical compounds.

The two vice-presidents are the rectors of two Unite! partner universities, Ilkka Niemelä from Aalto University and Daniel Crespo from Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya · BarcelonaTech.

Based on the feedback from the European Commission, Unite! has decided to strengthen its leadership and establish two new Vice President positions. President Ilkka Niemelä from Aalto University and Rector Daniel Crespo from Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya were elected for these positions by the Academic Forum of Unite! on 29 November, 2022.

Third Alexander von Humboldt Professorship for TU Darmstadt – Dr Marcus Rohrbach awarded

The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation has once again granted TU Darmstadt a Humboldt Professorship, Germany’s most highly endowed research award. The winner Dr Marcus Rohrbach – an expert in multimodal learning who was nominated by TU now has the chance to conduct research as a Humboldt Professor of Artificial Intelligence (AI) at the TU and at the Hessian Centre for Artificial Intelligence (hessian.AI). He reinforces a field of research in which the Technical University of Darmstadt plays a leading international role.

ERC Starting Grant for TU project MECERDIS by materials scientist Dr Xufei Fang

The MECERDIS research project at the Technical University of Darmstadt is awarded an ERC Starting Grant by the European Research Council. Dr Xufei Fang's work is being funded with around 1.5 million euros. The TU materials scientist is researching improved ceramic materials that will enable new applications.

Unite! has closed its pilot phase to launch the new Erasmus + proposal for the next four years, to implement the European university of innovation, technology and engineering

From 1 to 3 November, the Graz University of Technology (TU Graz) hosted the first Unite! Steering Committee since the EU announced the decision to fund the alliance for another four years in the Erasmus+ program. The Unite! Steering Committee, made up of the Unite! Secretariat, the Key Liaison Officers from each partner university, the Work Package Leaders of the new proposal and the Students in Unite! for Representation and Empowerment (SURE!), discussed in detail the new goals and projects of this new phase.

Pieter Christiaan Doornenbal stay at the Institut für Kernphysik

Dr Pieter Doornenbal, RIKEN Nishina Center, Japan, received a Friedrich Wilhem Bessel Research Award from the Alexander von Humboldt foundation. The prize consists a research fellowship and the awardees can choose an host institution in Germany for collaborations during stays from few months to a year. Dr Doornenbal selected TU Darmstadt.

From research to practice: PRORETA 5 cooperation successfully concluded

Developing building blocks for automated urban driving to improve road safety in the city was the aim of the PRORETA 5 project that has now been brought to a successful conclusion. This also marked the end of the 20-year interdisciplinary research cooperation between Continental, the Technical University of Darmstadt, the University of Bremen, and the Technical University of Iaşi in Romania.