General Information
 

The Graduate Program ("Promotionsprogramm") "New materials with tailored properties" is an establishment of the State of Niedersachsen at the Leibniz University of Hannover. It is located within the "Center for Solid-State Chemistry and New Materials" (Zentrum für Festkörperchemie und Neue Materialien"), a special research project ("Innovationsprojekt") of the State of Niedersachsen. The Graduate Program is carried by the Institute of Inorganic Chemistry, the Institute of Physical Chemistry and Electrochemistry, the Institute of mechanical engineering as well as by the Institute of mineralogy of the University of Hannover. The Laser-Zentrum e.V. and the Institute of Physical and Theoretical Chemistry and the Institute of Technical Chemistry of the Technical University of Braunschweig are associated members.

Graduate programs aim at the integration of research and training

Their main objective is to enhance the opportunities of young scientists to improve the standard of their PhD studies. The provision of an interdisciplinary frame and the possibility to place a research project in a larger context should be a point of inspiration for the participants. Working in a team together with other graduates and with experienced scientists should broaden the students‘ vision and promote scientific discussion.

The Graduate Program "New materials with tailored properties" is dedicated to research und education in the field of materials science. Graduate students who chose a thesis project which fits to the aims of the program have the possibility to obtain an additional qualification by participation in the graduate course of study. The successful participation in this graduate course is acknowledged by a certificate.

Georg Christoph Lichtenberg-fellowship

Georg Christoph
Lichtenberg

Graduate students participating in the Graduate Program "New materials with tailored properties" can be supported by financially attractive Georg Christoph Lichtenberg-fellowships sponsored by the State of Niedersachsen. In addition to these fellowship holders, also other graduate students who work on thesis projects fitting to the aims of the Program can participate.

The research areas of the Graduate Program are

• Sorption and Catalysis
  and
• Atomic Transport and Corrosion,

providing a representative section of the research performed within the ZFM.

Sorption processes play an important role in separation procedures in the chemical industry and are also useful for the cleaning of contaminated soils. Heterogeneous catalysis comprises industrial procedures of high relevance in the formation of chemical products and also to relieve environmental burdens.

Atomic transport is not only of general importance for the reactivity of solids, but also for applications employing ionic conductivity in batteries and fuel-cells. Corrosion phenomena stand in close connection to atomic transport and constitute a large annual damage to modern industrial societies.

In general, the research projects of the Graduate Program shall be of interest with regard to applications. More details about the individual research projects of the program can be found at projects.

The course of studies of the graduate program requires the active participation of the graduate students in three areas, namely:

• Area A: Compulsory seminars for all students;
• Area B: Special lectures;
• Area C: Publications and conference contributions.

A student has to achieve at least 25 CPs during his graduate studies. In the different areas, a certain minimum of CPs must be achieved:

• Area A: 7 CPs;
• Area B: 8 CPs;
• Area C: 4 CPs;

Typically, a lecture given with one hour per week which has been attended for one term (corresponding to ca. 15 h of lecture) is equivalent to 1 CP; as examples concerning area C, an oral contribution at a national conference corresponds to 1 CP, whereas a full paper publication yields 3 CPs. Also required from each student is a research stay abroad.
For further details and a more formal description of the course of study and the CP system see:

• Course of Study of the Graduate Program (Studienplan des Promotionsprogramms)
• Regulation of the Graduate Program (Ordnung des Promotionsprogramms)