First battery workshop with focus on female researchers
The POLiS organizing committee consisting of Montaha Anjass, Sonia Dsoke, Christine Kranz, and Ijaz Mohsin hosted the 1st international virtual workshop "Post-Lithium Research: Women in Focus" on July 27-28. The goal of the workshop was to highlight the role of women in state-of-the-art post-lithium energy storage research. Although there has been visible progress in gender equality in research in recent years, women remain underrepresented in STEM subjects and their research often receives less attention compared to their male colleagues. This is particularly visible in senior positions. The interest of many researchers in this topic, was reflected in a high number of participants of around 220. Many outstanding, international female scientists in the field of post-Li research participated in the workshop. For the first time worldwide, an event on battery research put a special focus on the work of female scientists.
Fifteen invited female researchers presented a wide range of topics, from basic materials and electrolyte research to advanced characterization and applications. Renowned plenary speakers such as Kristina Edström (Uppsala University), Clare Grey (University of Cambridge), Montserrat Casas Cabanas (CIC energiGUNE) or Maria Rosa Palacín (Institut de Ciència de Materials de Barcelona) gave insights into their very different scientific careers - all outstanding "role models" for early career researchers.
In addition to the lecture program, a digital poster session with a total of 28 contributions took place. The posters of Clarissa Glaser and Luca Schneider, both PhD students in the Cluster of Excellence, were awarded the Best Poster Award. Clarissa Glaser deals with the "Investigation of MgZ2Se4 (Z = Sc, Er, Tm, Y) Spinels as Mg Ion Conductors for All Solid State Mg Batteries" and Luca Schneider's poster has the topic "Cathode Tortuosity: Porous Nanostructured vs. Bulk Particles".