Early Career Researcher

The Early Career Researcher (ECR) Committee is a self-organized group of PhD students and forms a separate organizational unit within the Collaborative Research Center with voting rights in the CRC Executive Board. This ECR-group organizes one Summerschool with international invited guests and external students in every funding period and has access to central funds. In addition, it can invite guest speakers for the CRC seminar and is involved in the organization of the social part of CRC events.

Members of the Early Career Researcher Committee

Doris Herberth (Kontakt)
          Representative of the ECR-committee
          PhD student in the Laboratory Astrophysics group of Prof. Giesen, Kassel

Eileen Döring
         PhD student in the Laboratory Astrophysics group of Prof. Giesen, Kassel

Emilia Heikura
         PhD student in the Functional thin films and physics with Synchrotron radiation group of Prof. Ehresmann, Kassel

Nick Vogeley
          PhD student in the Light-Matter-Interaction group of Prof. Singer, Kassel

Fabian Spallek
          Post-Doc in Macroscopic Quantumelectrodynamics of Prof. Buhmann, Kassel

Stefan Aull
          PhD student in the Light-Matter-Interaction group of Prof. Singer, Kassel

Linda Zwick
          PhD student in the physics education group of Prof. Wodzinski, Kassel

Lutz Marder
          PhD student in the Functional thin films and physics with Synchrotron radiation group of Prof. Ehresmann, Kassel

Max Hofmann
          PhD student in the Experimental Atomic Physics group of Prof. Dörner, Frankfurt

Leon Kaiser
          PhD student in the Experimental Atomic Physics group of Prof. Dörner, Frankfurt

Freya Berggoetz
         PhD student in the Spectroscopy of Molecular Processes group of Prof. Schnell, Hamburg

Alexander Blech
         PhD student in the Quantumdynamics & -control group of Prof. Koch, Berlin

The SFB-1319-ELCH is designed to promote Early Career Researchers on all career levels by financing insights into other international research groups in the form of a (one-month) exchange program.

• If you are interested, please contact the SFB office (SFB-ELCH-mail) or the scientific manager (Annette Becker) directly. 
• The SFB will cover the costs for travel and accomodation

Pascal Stahl from the SFB-Project-B3 took this chance in the first year of the SFB (2018) and visited the workgroup of Prof. Dr. Melanie Schnell in Hamburg at DESY.

Experience report by Pascal Stahl: 

"As part of the SFB1319 scientific exchange program, I worked for one month in Melanie Schnell's research group (Link, Link) at DESY in Hamburg. I got to know the campus and worked in a new laboratory with new instruments and measurement techniques. For me, one of the most valuable aspects, both scientific and social, was the cooperation with the great people there.  Of course I learned a lot scientifically and gained a lot of helpful experience and knowledge for my own research. But it is not only about collecting scientific knowledge, but also about meeting and getting to know people from all over the world and making new friends. In addition, further collaborations in the constant exchange between the project groups were initiated. Thanks to the support of Melanie's group, I gained many new impressions at DESY and spent a very intensive and instructive time there. Therefore, I can only recommend every young scientist to use this great opportunity to make their own experiences in relation to science as well as to people."

Experience report by Alexander Blech: 

"The last three months of 2019 me and my wife spent in Manhattan, Kansas, basically in the middle of the great plains in central US. As part of the scientific exchange program of the CRC I was visiting the group of Loren Greenman at the Kansas State University (Link) to develop skills in quantum chemistry and electron scattering. At the same time my wife was attending courses at KSU in her field of study, which we organised independently.

I never before lived abroad for a larger period of time and only once visited the US. So I did not really know, what to expect. But it was an experience I do not want to miss anymore. Apart from the fact that a visa application needs some processing time, the organisation of the exchange went very smoothly and no problems occurred that could not be solved by a friendly phone call. Once arrived, I quickly became a part of the university community, thanks to the vivid campus life. After putting some effort into getting mobile in the US, I pretty much enjoyed getting to know the country in small trips on the weekends. While living in this new environment and by interacting with people with a different perspective, I learned a lot about the cultural differences and similiarities and built some relationships that still continue.

Besides from my personal expericences, my time at Loren's group was very fruitful for my scientific work. I admit, for a theoretician the working conditions as such do not change that much when visiting other places, since monitors in the US do not really differ from monitors elsewhere. However, it is all about the people around you. Getting in contact with new collegues was very valuable for me. I benefited a lot from the active scientific exchange with the group members and I am happy about the still ongoing collaboration with Loren. Of course it is always challenging to get used to new concepts and methods in a short amount of time, but thanks to the supportive and motivating working conditions, the tools I learned are now a key element for my research in the context of the CRC.

It was an intensive time that was an incredible valuable experience both personally and scientifically and I am very thankful to Christiane, Loren and the CRC for making this exchange possible."

Experience report by Sven Grundmann:

"The SFB1319 scientific exchange program for Early Career Researchers gave me the chance to spend one month in Japan at the SACLA free electron laser facility in February 2020. Prof. Kiyoshi Ueda, one of the SFB’s collaborating researchers, hosted my stay. I was part of two beamtime campaigns using the free electron laser to investigate XUV-induced charge transfer dynamics in molecules. During these experiments, I could participate with my experiences on reaction microscopy, but also learn many new things about other momentum imaging techniques. Taking part in this international research effort gave me the chance to meet many new people and expand my professional network. Unfortunaly, private travel was already restricted due to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Still, my stay was of great personal and professional benefit. I encourage the Early Career Researchers of SFB1319 to make use of this great opportunity and visit our collaborators in Germany and all over the world (once possible again). I am particularly grateful to Tillmann Kalas for helping me with the organization."

As part of the virtual retreat in September 2020, the "Draw Your Science" competition was held among the young scientists of the SFB. In small groups, the participants were asked to graphically depict their respective scientific work. This took place "under difficult conditions": it was not allowed to draw by hand, but an online drawing program had to be used.
Here we present some of the results of the competition.

Explanation: On the right side you see a Feynmand diagram for the parity violating interaction over an anapole. Here the particles are represented by tea (cups) and the toroidal field of the anapole by a glazed donut. Our group likes to sit together with tea and pastries, for scientific and private exchange. Then different thoughts fly together, like the tea from the cups in the picture, and by this interaction something interesting develops. On the left side you see a tea cup breaking, like a molecule during a coulomb explosion. The shards are the ion fragments, and the leaking hot tea symbolizes the wave function of the electrons, which is now in the continuum. Since all this tea stimulates thoughts about chirality (after all, fennel tea often contains fenchon), the title of our contribution is "ChiraliTea".
Concept: Steffen Giesen, Mira Diekmann and Konstantin Gaul, Implementation: Steffen Giesen.