HELMHOLTZ ASSOCIATION

Berit Dannenberg

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HERMANN VON HELMHOLTZ

Universal scholar with a sense for the practical

Achievements: - Ophthalmoscope for examining the retina- Three-component theory of colour vision - Principles of tone colour through harmonics- Resonance theory of hearing- First law of thermodynamics on the conservation of energy

Founding President of the Physikalisch-Technische Reichsanstalt

Hermann von Helmholtz(31 August 1821 – 8 September 1894)

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FACTS AND FIGURES

16 research centres with 240 institutes

28,000 staff 9,000 scientists & engineers

4,400 doctoral students

1,700 apprentices

Budget: 2.8 billion € 1.9 bn € institutional funding

0.9 bn € third party fundingHelmholtz Centre

Branch of a Helmholtz Centre

Helmholtz Head Office

List

Helgoland

Bremerhaven GeesthachtHamburg

Greifswald

Braunschweig

Wolfenbüttel-Remlingen

Göttingen

Magdeburg

Potsdam

Berlin

ZeuthenTeltow

Niemegk

Halle

LeipzigBad

Lauchstädt

Köln

Jülich

Bonn

Darmstadt

Heidelberg

Lampoldshausen

Karlsruhe

Stuttgart

München

GarchingNeuherberg

Oberpfaffenhofen

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16 RESEARCH CENTRES Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY German Cancer Research Center German Centre for Neurodegenerative Diseases Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt Forschungszentrum Jülich Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) GSI Helmholtz Centre for Heavy Ion Research GKSS Research Centre Geesthacht Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research Helmholtz Zentrum München

German Research Center for Environmental Health Helmholtz Centre Potsdam GFZ

German Research Centre for Geosciences Max Delbrueck Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) Berlin-Buch Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics (associated)

The Helmholtz Association is an umbrella organisation of 16national research centres all established after 1950.

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NATIONAL LABS WITH A MISSION

Solving grand challenges with cutting-edge research

Developing and operating complex infrastructure and large-scale facilities for the national and international scientific community

Creating wealth for society and industry by knowledge transformation and innovation

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LARGE-SCALE FACILITIES & INFRASTRUCTURE

Managing national and international networks and consortia, e.g. tsunami early warning system

Developing, building and operating large-scale facilities, e.g. ITER, XFEL, FAIR

Providing complex infrastructure,e.g. research vessels, supercomputers, mouse facilities

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CUTTING-EDGE SCIENCE IN NETWORKSThe six research fields

Energy

Earth & Environment

Health

Key Technologies

Structure of Matter

Aeronautics, Spaceand Transport

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RESEARCH FIELD ENERGYFor Example: Reducing CO2 Emissions

Solar-thermal power stations Bioliq pilot plant Geothermal pilot plant CO2 sequestration and CO2

separation with membranes

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RESEARCH FIELD EARTH & ENVIRONMENTFor Example: Understanding Climate Change

Polar research with ice breaker Polarstern and Neumayer station

Understanding atmospheric changes with HALO airplane

Earth observation with satellites

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RESEARCH FIELD HEALTHFor Example: Combating Major Common Diseases

Nobel Prize 2008 to Harald zur Hausen for discovering connection between viral infections and cancer

Vaccination against cervix cancer

Heavy ion cancer therapy

From bench to bedside: translational research

New: Helmholtz Centre for Neurodegenerative Diseases

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RESEARCH FIELD KEY TECHNOLOGIESFor example: Promoting Innovation

Nobel Prize 2007 to Helmholtz Researcher Peter Grünberg for discovering GMR effect

Supercomputers JUBL, JUGENE

Nanotechnology

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RESEARCH FIELD STRUCTURE OF MATTERFor Example: Operating Large Scale Facilities

European XFEL: films from the nanocosmos

Pilot plant FLASH

FAIR: understanding the secrets of matter

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RESEARCH FIELD AERONAUTICS, SPACE ANDTRANSPORTFor Example: Space Exploration

Columbus space lab at International Space station ISS

Earth observation with satellites, e.g. TerraSAR-X, EnviSAT

European satellite navigation system GALILEO

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HELMHOLTZ INTERNATIONAL

Successful in Europe: participation in 693 projects, 36% success rate with EU applications; 63% with infrastructure applications

Base for new large-scale facilities with international participation, e.g. XFEL, FAIR

Participation in international projects, e.g. ITER Liaison offices in Brussels, Moscow, Beijing Bilateral partnerships around the world 4,500 visiting scientists at large-scale facilities

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PROMOTING YOUNG TALENTS

Structured training of doctoral students 6 Graduate Schools and 7 Helmholtz

Research Schools 116 Helmholtz Young Investigators

Groups (tenure option) Helmholtz Management Academy 1,700 apprentices 24 Helmholtz School Labs Tiny Tots Science Corner

Helmholtz Research Schools

Focused on a specific research field

Outstanding participants from germany and abroad

Promotion within 3 years- interdisciplinary scientific education- soft skills

Financial support

Language: English

Helmholtz Research Schools Biosoft – International Helmholtz Research School on Biophysics

and Soft Matter

Helmholtz International Research School for Infection Biology

Helmholtz International Research School in Molecular Neurobiology

Helmholtz International Research School in Translational

Cardiovascular and Metabolic Medicine

Helmholtz Research School for Quark Matter Studies in Heavy Ion

Collisions

Helmholtz Space Life Sciences Research School

Helmholtz Earth System Science Research School

Helmholtz Graduate Schools

Aim: To establish a structured doctoral training in all Helmholtz Centres

All PhD students are members of the Graduate School

Graduate Scholl offers (interdisciplinary) scientific training and soft skill courses

Doctoral committee for each PhD Student

Transparent processes and clear mutual responsibilities

Helmholtz Graduate Schools

HIGRADE - Helmholtz Interdisciplinary Graduate School for Environmental Research (Leipzig)

Helmholtz Graduate School Molecular Cell Biology (Berlin)

Helmholtz International Graduate School of Cancer Research (Heidelberg)

POLMAR – Helmholtz Graduate School for Polar and Marine Research (Bremerhaven)

Helmholtz Graduate School for Hadron and Ion Research (Darmstadt)

Helmholtz Graduate School for Infection Research (Braunschweig)

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Helmholtz Young Investigator Groups

For foreign or german scientists abroad

Establishing of a cooperation network

scientific independence in an early career stage

Good financial and material resources for research

Reliable career prospects based on proven research performance

Jointly appointed Junior Professorship

Offer to the Young Investigator Group Leaders

250.000 per year (staff, infrastructure, material)

Funding period of 5 years

Responsibilty for budget and personnel

Possibility to use the large scale facilities and infrastructure of the Helmholtz Centre

Network

Cooperation with university (supervising of PhD Students, teaching)

Tenure Option

Soft Skill Course: Leadership

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Requirements

International Call for Proposals (Science, Nature)

Requirements 2-6 years after PhD 6 month stay abroad (for Germans) Scientific excellence

Selection process First selection by the Helmholtz Centre Written assessments from international

reviewers an interdisciplinary panel decides on the basis

of an oral presentation and the written votes

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Thank you for your attention!