News

The panelists, f.l.t.r.: Prof. Rupp, Dr. Whang, Prof. Henß, Dr. Krez and Prof. Vargas-Barbosa.

BayBatt kicked off the new year with a networking event for female scientists. Under the title ‘Women in Charge’, four women with different career paths in battery research and development were guests at the University of Bayreuth on 15 January:

• Prof. Dr. Anja Henß, Professor of Materials Science with a focus on Surface and Materials Analysis at Justus Liebig University in Giessen;
• Dr. Julia Krez, Head of Battery Materials & Recycling at BASF SE;
• Prof. Dr. Jennifer Rupp, Professor of Solid-State Electrolyte Chemistry at the Technical University of Munich and CSO and co-founder of Qkera GmbH;
  
• Dr Grace Whang, fellow of the Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung, now working in industry.

From Bayreuth, nearly 30 female scientists from all career stages took part in the event: professors, postdoctoral researchers, doctoral students and master's students.

Small group with Dr. Krez during the Keylab tour.

After a joint lunch, the event began with an open question and answer session on the career paths of the four panelists leading up to their current positions. Questions about balancing family life with research activities and professioal careers were of particular interest, but the various career options, from an academic career to a career in business to starting one's own company, were also discussed.
Afterwards, the participants were given guided tours of the Keylab BayBatt Cell Technology Centre in small groups and had the opportunity to network over coffee and cake. 

The event concluded with two scientific presentations by Prof. Rupp and Prof. Henß. Prof. Rupp first spoke about the ‘Energy Transition 2.0 – From Next-Generation Batteries to Novel Energy Conversion Mechanisms’, reporting on findings from her research as well as her experience co-founding Qkera GmbH. Prof. Henß then gave a lecture entitled ‘From Ions to Leaves: Exploring Complex Interfaces with Multi-modal Analytics’. The lectures were open to all interested parties from the natural sciences and engineering and attracted an audience of around 70 scientists, researchers and students from BayBatt and beyond.

The BayBatt office is delighted with this successful start to the new year and would like to express its special thanks to Prof. Dr. Vargas-Barbosa for taking the lead in organising the event!