Archive: News of Technical University of Darmstadt

Programmable biosensors using synthetic biology: Funding as a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Action

The international “SYNSENSO” Doctoral Network that is coordinated by TU Darmstadt is developing a new generation of modular biosensors. The European Commission has now awarded the network a total of 2.7 million euros of funding as a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Action.

Contributions to the safe “electricity highway”: “Athene Young Investigator” Yvonne Späck-Leigsnering

How can the energy transition also succeed technically? Athene Young Investigator Dr Yvonne Späck-Leigsnering is researching the necessary change in energy infrastructure and any possible weak points. The scientist wants to make products and systems more reliable and robust with the help of mathematical modelling and field simulations. One example is cable-based high-voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission systems that are intended to transport electricity from wind energy over long distances without interference.

Activating X-rays – Signalling Cascade in T-cells

Radiation therapy is a proven approach to destroying tumours. However, it is possible that it might be able to do even more in the future – namely stimulate the immune system at the same time and so fight cancer even more intensively. The foundations for this have been laid by researchers led by TU Darmstadt. They have found that x-rays trigger a calcium signalling cascade in cells of the immune system. The results have now been published in the “Journal of General Physiology”.

New Erasmus+ project IDEM launched

Unite! wants to create a new model of a European virtual and physical campus accessible to all Unite! students. The new Erasmus+ project “IDEM – Inclusion, Diversity, Equity in Mobility”, which was officially launched in a virtual kick-off meeting on February 14, aims to enable in particular students with disabilities, refugee students and first-generation students to fully participate in all mobility programmes between Unite! partner universities. Concrete approaches will be developed for this over the next three years. The project is coordinated by the TU Darmstadt.

Thanks to “Athene Young Investigator” Tobias Meuser, mobile networks are becoming more resilient

How can the future 5G communication network be made more resilient? Dr Tobias Meuser is researching the resilience of the 5G network. Dr Meuser has a doctorate in electrical engineering and works as a project manager in the Collaborative Research Centre MAKI – Multi-Mechanisms Adaptation for the Future Internet.

Unite! wants to pave the way for the excellence in research, innovation and education that is essential to meet the challenges of our time. Our Mission Statement 2030 is the result of a concerted effort by the entire Unite! community.

Unite! University Network for Innovation, Technology and Engineering aims to reach the next level of development as a European university alliance, creating a wealth of new and unprecedented opportunities for its students, staff and partners in the coming years. Continuing its journey that began in 2019, Unite! aims to develop as a dynamic and inclusive university alliance, committed to long-term sustained collaboration and progressive integration.

The Manifesto presents the students’ ideas on the future of Higher Education in Europe, as well as some recommendations to make European universities more in line with their expectations.

In the perspective of the Conference on the Future of Europe which took place this past January, students from Bachelor’s to PhD from all European universities were invited to design a manifesto. This Conference was designed to be an incubator for new proposals for shaping the university of tomorrow, involving national authorities, the European Commission and drawing in particular on the feedback from the 41 alliances set up under the “European Universities” initiative.

It includes objectives, recommendations and actions that the universities of the alliance can promote to make Unite! a European driver of open science and innovation by 2023.

Unite! has presented the alliance's strategic roadmap for moving towards open science. The proposal includes a set of objectives and recommendations that universities and schools should promote, develop and transform into actions, redesigns and incentives, to advance the adoption of open science practices, principles and objectives in all the partner universities of the alliance.

Publication in “Nature Communications”: Laser serves as compact particle accelerator

A team led by the Technical University of Darmstadt has for the first time made laser-generated neutrons usable for an industrial application. The researchers showed that neutrons generated compactly with lasers can be used in non-destructive material testing.

“Visual robot programming” project receives funding of more than one million euros

For its new Transition Grant program, the European Innovation Council (EIC) has for the first time selected 42 projects from 292 proposals to receive a total of €99 million in EU funding. The very first Transition Grant goes with the highest possible score to computer science professor Jan Peters and his team at the Intelligent Autonomous Systems Group. For their pioneering project “Visual Robot Programming”, the team will receive funding of over 1 million euros over two years.

EU funds research on human behaviour with 2 million euros

Constantin Rothkopf, Director of the Center for Cognitive Science at TU Darmstadt, will receive a highly prestigious Consolidator Grant from the European Research Council (ERC). His project “ACTOR – Towards a computational account of natural sequential behavior” will be funded with almost two million euros over a period of five years. This award further strengthens the numerous activities of TU Darmstadt in the area of cognitive science and artificial intelligence (AI).

Start-up Energy Robotics solves sensitive monitoring tasks worldwide

In March 2019, former doctoral students at the Technical University of Darmstadt Alberto Romay, Stefan Kohlbrecher, Dorian Scholz and TU alumnus Marc Dassler founded the company “Energy Robotics GmbH” together with Professor Oskar von Stryk. Today, just three years later, the team with its software for autonomous inspection robots is a global leader in the market for monitoring oil, gas or chemical plants. Energy Robotics' software is already being successfully used on a continuous basis in 13 countries on four continents and the TU spin-off is continuing to expand.

New opportunities for the future of Unite!

The new Erasmus+ call in the context of the European Universities Initiative, the consolidation of the alliance’s structure with the future addition of two new members and the advancement of many of the projects, will be the focus of the alliance's work this year 2022.

TU Darmstadt offers career weeks around the postdoc phase

In April, early career researchers of the Rhine-Main Universities are invited to join a variety of career and information events to push their postdoc career and network with experienced researchers.

International research team led by TU Darmstadt studies complex ecosystems

Can destroyed rainforests regenerate? This is the research focus of the “Reassembly” consortium funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) and led by the Technical University of Darmstadt. Using ants as a case study, it is possible to assess whether and how well a rainforest can be restored after agricultural use. The results have now been presented in the international journal “Ecological Applications”.