GSC 1070:  Darmstadt Graduate School of Energy Science and Engineering

• Subject Area: Fluid Mechanics, Technical Thermodynamics and Thermal Energy Engineering ; Process Engineering, Technical Chemistry
• Term: from 2012 to 2019
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 194657927

The mission of the Darmstadt Graduate School of Energy Science and Engineering is to educate tomorrow’s leading energy engineers in a multidisciplinary field of expertise needed to identify and master the most demanding scientific, engineering, economic and social challenges in an interdisciplinary approach. The main challenge is viewed to be a continuous transition from the carbon-based, non-renewable primary energy sources of today to renewable and environmentally friendly energy resources of tomorrow. The optimal strategy to meet this challenge is, on the one hand, to improve conventional energy technologies and render them progressively more efficient, to meet the ever more stringent demands on pollutant emissions, and, on the other hand, to simultaneously develop innovative, advanced renewable energy technologies, which must be brought to a competitive technological readiness level and provide safe, reliable and cost-effective solutions. The Graduate School represents the educational part of the TU Darmstadt Energy Center, an existing entity at the university. The comprehensive expertise on energy topics in different departments at the TU Darmstadt will be united in a combined effort to offer programmes of interdisciplinary education and research. Four energy technology integration platforms will be established within the Graduate School as main interdisciplinary research areas: (1) solar fuels, (2) building integration and energy self-sustaining urban settlements, (3) smart energy networks, (4) flexible energy converters with low CO2 emissions, The Graduate School is organised according to three guiding principles: (1) energy technologies in transition, (2) energy technology integration, (3) evolution of sustainable energy technology. The scientific concept concentrates on efficiency and optimisation strategies with a strong additional impetus on integration aspects. The educational programme consists of a preparation phase, equivalent to a master’s course, and a PhD research phase, involving a novel interdisciplinary curriculum. The standard entry requirement for the Graduate School is the bachelor’s degree, but students with a master’s degree will also be accepted. The central innovative element of the Graduate School is to organise both education and research in multidisciplinary dissertation project teams. Key elements of this training programme are an early involvement of students in research projects, training in transferable skills and a comprehensive mentoring and supervision concept.

• DFG Programme: Graduate Schools
• Applicant Institution: Technische Universität Darmstadt
• Participating Institution: Fraunhofer-Institut für Betriebsfestigkeit und Systemzuverlässigkeit (LBF); GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung GmbH
• Spokespersons: Professor Dr. Christian Hasse, from 7/2019 until 10/2019; Professor Dr.-Ing. Johannes Janicka, until 7/2019
• Participating Researchers: Professorin Dr. Barbara Albert; Professor Dr.-Ing. Andreas Binder; Professor Dr. Andreas Dreizler; Professor Dr.-Ing. Bernd Epple; Professor Dr.-Ing. Carl-Alexander Graubner; Professor Dr.-Ing. Horst Hahn; Professor Dr.-Ing. Holger Hanselka; Professor Dr.-Ing. Volker Hinrichsen; Professor Dr. Dieter H.H. Hoffmann; Professor Dr.-Ing. Rolf Katzenbach; Professor Dr. Hans-Joachim Kleebe; Professor Dr. Jens Lang; Professor Dr.-Ing. Matthias Oechsner; Professor Dr. Markus Roth; Professorin Dr.-Ing. Christina Roth; Professor Dr. Ingo Sass; Professorin Dr. Liselotte Schebek; Professor Dr.-Ing. Ralf Steinmetz; Professor Dr.-Ing. Peter Stephan; Professor Dr. Stefan Ulbrich; Professor Dr.-Ing. Herbert Vogel
• Deputy: Professor Dr. Wolfram Jaegermann