We congratulate Ritika on winning the Best Poster Award at the NDDK conference held at the University of Göttingen on 29 September 2026. The poster, entitled ‘Photoswitching in P-centred bi- and tetraradicaloid metallocene hybrids of Group 4’, presents research based on the concept of photoswitchable CO₂ activation chemistry.

Luisa Zach – winner of the ‘Rostock’s Eleven’ science competition in 2026

How important is science communication? Very important! Because to get young people excited about science, you have to show them that research not only enables you to achieve a great deal, but that it’s also fun! Every year, the `Rostock denkt 365°´association organises the ‘Rostock’s Eleven’ workshop, in which budding scientists present their projects to a wide audience through popular science talks.

A jury comprising journalists, science communicators, teachers and pupils from schools in Rostock assessed the 12 entries this year. The prize was won by Luisa, a PhD student at RTG SPECTRE, with her talk ‘A second life for CO₂ – and how light becomes a chemist in the process’. In her project, Luisa is investigating how to activate CO₂ molecules using UV light so that they react with themselves to form valuable chemical compounds. The aim of the research is to produce oxalate sustainably and, in the long term, to replace complex processes that rely on fossil raw materials.

As a PhD student in a Research Training Group funded by the DFG, Luisa benefits not only from structured supervision by a team of several professors but also from the interdisciplinary nature of the Research Training Group, which enables complex research questions to be explored across disciplines. Additional soft skills training – in this case, in public speaking – makes such fantastic achievements possible!
Congratulations, Luisa!

We congratulate Maham Azhar on winning the Best Poster Award for her presentation ''Investigations of H-Bonding in Dicarbonic acid based Ionic Liquids'' at the 2026 Bunsen-Tagung in Dresden!

Our PhD student Lennart Kruse has been awarded the Best Communication Prize for young researchers at the AMPERE NMR School. This well renowned summer school is held traditionally once a year in Zakopane, Poland, and is specifically designed for young researchers in the field of nuclear magnetic resonance. 

In the RTG Lennart is part of project 4.2 and mainly working on in-situ infrared spectroscopy as well as time-resolved spectroscopy. During the week-long program Lennart extended his knowledge of spectroscopic methods and attended lectures of renowned NMR experts and participated in hands-on tutorial sessions. The program covered a broad range of experimental and theoretical NMR methods. Within the frame of the Young Researchers Forum, PhD students and early career researchers presented their research results in plenary short communication talks. The jury composed of all invited plenary speakers selected Lennart as the winner of the Best Communication Award. Congratulations!

“I am really happy and proud to have received this prize. This prize was the perfect end of a week full of fascinating presentations, tutorials and conversations with renowned researchers and fellow PhD students. The atmosphere in Zakopane was really amazing and the program offered a well-balanced mix of basic and more advanced topics. I am grateful to the jury, the organizers for making this school so exceptional and to my supervisor Ralf Ludwig for giving me the opportunity to participate.”
Lennart Kruse

We’re excited to share that our PhD student Luisa Zach was honored with a poster prize at the 29^th Lecture Conference on Photochemistry 2024, hosted by the GDCh at Johannes Gutenberg University (JGU) Mainz. This international conference brings together researchers from across the photochemistry community to share the latest developments in light-driven processes, molecular photophysics and related fields.

In the RTG, Luisa is part of project 3.1 and primarily focuses on organic photocatalysis within the “Catalytic Functionalizations” research group led by Dr. Jola Pospech. At the conference, she presented her current research results and engaged in discussions with fellow researchers and leading experts from across the field.

The jury selected her contribution for a poster prize, recognizing both the scientific quality and the clear presentation of her work. Congratulations!

“Attending the conference was an inspiring experience for me. The high level of scientific exchange and the opportunity to connect with leading experts in the field made it a truly valuable event. I’m especially proud that my work was recognized with this award and I’m grateful for the opportunity to present our group’s research in such a stimulating and supportive environment.”

Luisa Zach