Establishment of the International Center for Advanced Studies of Energy Conversion in Göttingen
The energy problem is one of the biggest global challenges of our time. Problems such as: global warming, habitat destruction, species extinction, poverty, hunger, disease and even armed human conflict either directly result from or are profoundly aggravated by ways in which humans produce and consume energy. Hence, energy science and technology development today generally focus either on issues of improving energy production or improving the efficiency of energy use.
The newly founded International Center for Advanced Studies of Energy Conversion (ICASEC) in Göttingen promotes fundamental research, international networking and educational initiatives through exchange programmes. It is conceived to meet the needs of scientists conducting basic research, who are concerned with the fundamental problem of how energy is converted between its various forms. The emphasis of the ICASEC is long term innovation based on the pursuit of first principles understanding of energy conversion. This philosophy emphasizes strong interactions between experimentalists and theoreticians encompassing the fields of Physics, Chemistry and Biology.
One of the main goals of the ICASEC is to encourage interdisciplinary and international exchange between scientists on every level of their carrier from Göttingen and all over the world. Thus, several programmes have been established in order to support research stays abroad as well as research visits from international scientists. The center plans to work together with its international partners, especially in the US and in China, to receive their top students in Göttingen and to send Göttingen students for enriching research experiences outside of Germany.
The center is funded jointly by the University of Göttingen and the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, Göttingen. The members consist of representatives of the faculties of Biology and Psychology, Chemistry and Physics; as well as the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, Göttingen, and the XLAB – Göttingen’s Experimental Laboratory for Young People. International Partners are – among others – the Institute of Chemical Research of Catalonia, Spain, the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, China, and the École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland.
Further information about the center can be obtained online: http://www.icasec.uni-goettingen.de/.