Professor Heinz Koeppl, Darmstadt spokesman of the project ‘CoM2Life’, in a video interview

The cluster initiative ‘COM2Life’ is a project within the framework of the Rhine-Main Universities (RMU), with TU Darmstadt and Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz as partners. Professor Koeppl introduces the research project, which aims to develop a new generation of soft biomaterials. Part one of a three-part video series on TU Darmstadt's Cluster of Excellence applications.

European University Alliance comes to Darmstadt

Since its foundation in 2019, TU Darmstadt has been the coordinator of the European University Alliance Unite! The alliance now consists of nine partner universities from Finland to Portugal and meets every six months for internal working meetings to work on the shared vision of a European campus. The next meeting will take place from 24 to 26 September in Darmstadt, the II Unite! Branding Event on 25 September will bring Unite! to life for all TU members and external partners.

TU Darmstadt and Unite! celebrate together

For the first time, the Language Resource Centre of TU Darmstadt is organising the European Day of Languages on 26 September – to coincide with the third day of the Unite! Dialogue, which is also taking place in Darmstadt. Together with the European University Alliance, which consists of nine European partner universities, TU Darmstadt is celebrating Europe's linguistic and cultural diversity and invites its university members and their families to join in.

Projects on learning robotic systems and digital 3D doppelgangers selected

In the current funding round of the European Research Council (ERC), four projects at TU Darmstadt have been awarded a Starting Grant. Two of these went to researchers from the “Reasonable Artificial Intelligence” (RAI) project. “RAI” is in the running for a Cluster of Excellence in the prestigious Excellence Strategy of the German federal and state governments.

European Research Council supports four projects at TU Darmstadt with ERC Starting Grants

This success is impressive: four young researchers at TU Darmstadt have been awarded a Starting Grant by the European Research Council (ERC) for excellent and innovative fundamental and frontier research. The selected early career researchers will be receiving a total of around 1.5 million euros each for their projects on learning robot systems, digital 3D doppelgangers, permanent magnets and deformed atomic nuclei over a period of five years. This excellent achievement once again shows TU Darmstadt’s research prowess – including by international standards.

Dr. Pelin Tozman receives ERC Starting Grant totalling 1.5 million euros

Permanent magnets are crucially important for green technologies. However, their production requires expensive and environmentally harmful raw materials. That is why material scientist Dr. Pelin Tozman from TU Darmstadt is researching resource-friendly alternatives. Her project, MAG-TOOL, is now receiving a Starting Grant totalling 1.5 million euros from the European Research Council (ERC) for five years.

ERC supports TU professor Justus Thies with Starting Grant

TU professor Justus Thies is receiving a Starting Grant totalling 1.5 million euros from the European Research Council (ERC) for his project ‘Learning Digital Humans in Motion’. The exciting research goal: to develop AI-based image processing and graphic tools to create lifelike digital representations of people for the immersive digital world.

ERC Starting Grant for physicist Alexander Tichai

Alexander Tichai is receiving a Starting Grant from the European Research Council (ERC) for his project “DeformedNuclei – Ab initio pathway to deformed nuclei”. In the project the theoretical physicist is developing new methods for investigating deformed atomic nuclei and analysing the effects of interaction models on the predicted nuclear shapes. The funding totals 1.5 million euros.

TU professor Georgia Chalvatzaki receives ERC Starting Grant for her project SIREN

The “SIREN” research project at TU Darmstadt has been awarded a Starting Grant by the European Research Council (ERC). Professor Georgia Chalvatzaki will receive around 1.5 million euros of funding for five years. The computer scientist is researching innovative AI robot software architectures, which enable human-like robots to perform challenging tasks in unstructured and dynamic environments.

Unite! honors start-ups for the first time

Unite! meets for the 10th time – and is growing. More members are taking part in the biannual Dialogue, more projects and ideas have emerged and more connections have been made: The Start-up & Innovation Day 2024 (InnoDay24) of the Innovation and Start-up Center HIGHEST at TU Darmstadt concludes the Dialogue and takes the opportunity to also give the start-up scene of the nine partner universities space and to network with each other. For the first time, an international jury of experts will present the Unite! start-up award to the two best start-ups.

Publication in “Nature Communications” on the prediction of avalanches

Even a single person in the snow can exert enough pressure on it to cause a buried weak layer of snow to collapse and the snow cover to slide away. In this case, experts speak of anticracks. The fundamental fracture properties that can lead to powerful slab avalanches are still largely unknown, but crucial in order to accurately predict when avalanches will occur. In the journal “Nature Communications”, researchers led by TU scientist Dr.-Ing. Philipp Rosendahl are now presenting an innovative method that enables the fracture toughness of weak snow layers to be measured in the field under controlled conditions.

Unite! and TU President in an FAZ interview

The X. Dialogue represents another milestone in the five-year history of Unite!. The university alliance is growing, more and more ideas and projects are being implemented and many more connections are being made. TU Darmstadt, coordinator of the university alliance, invites to Darmstadt in September – a good opportunity to take stock. Unite! and TU President Professor Tanja Brühl did just that in an interview with the FAZ.

A self-directed, online and free learning tool designed to deepen your understanding of diversity and inclusion

Do you sometimes feel the world we live in should be more inclusive? And do you feel that your social or work environment is accessible and safe? Can you identify situations that might make you feel uncomfortable or could be improved? Then the “21 Day Diversity and Inclusion Challenge” is for you!

ryon Rhine-Main-Universities Summer School 2024

From October 7 to 11, 2024, the ryon Summer School in Darmstadt and Gernsheim offers the opportunity to help shape the future of synthetic biology and biomaterials. Under the motto “From idea to start-up”, a platform will be created to offer young researchers the opportunity to develop and realize new business ideas. The event is part of the “CoM2Life” cluster project, which is in the running for a cluster of excellence in the prestigious Excellence Strategy of the German federal and state governments.

Prof. Peter Gruss began his international career as a microbiologist in Darmstadt

He is regarded as an American-style maker and the news magazine “Der Spiegel” once described him as “the humble high-flyer”. In fact, Peter Gruss is one of the world's leading cell biologists. He has successfully conducted research into tumour viruses and gene regulation at the German Cancer Research Centre in Heidelberg and in the United States. As President for many years, he developed the Max Planck Society further and strengthened its internationalisation. The basis for his scientific career was a degree in biology at TU Darmstadt. “Studying there was a privilege,” says the alumnus today.