Laurin Derr is in his third year of his PhD doing his research at the Institute of Physical Chemistry at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) in the group of Professor Rolf Schuster which is also part of POLiS – Cluster of Excellence. Like other members of the GS-EES – Graduate School Electrochemical Energy Storage, Laurin has spent his research stay abroad at Uppsala University in Sweden. There, he was in the Institute of Structural Chemistry under the supervision of Associate Professor Maria Hahlin. Why he has chosen Uppsala University, what he learned and what advice he would give to young researchers who are also planning a stay abroad is what we discussed with him.

Benjamin Schick, member of the GS-EES – Graduate School Electrochemical Energy Storage is doctoral researcher in the Institute of Electrochemistry at Ulm University doing his research within POLiS – Cluster of Excellence. As all members of the GS-EES, Benjamin also spent three months abroad doing research in a foreign laboratory. Why he chose Sweden, what challenges he had and wether or not his expectations were met are only some of the questions we discussed with him.

Mahla Talari is doctoral researcher in the Institute for Applied Materials – Energy Storage Systems (IAM-ESS) at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) led by Prof. Dr. Helmut Ehrenberg and member of the research group „Materials Synthesis for Energy Storage“ of Dr. Fabian Jeschull. She recently returned from her research stay in Sweden where she spent time at Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg. In this video interview, we find out what made her go to Sweden, what challenges she faced and what she learned for her future work.

Sebastian Baumgart, member of the GS-EES – Graduate School Electrochemical Energy Storage is doctoral researcher in the Institute of Theoretical Chemistry at Ulm University doing his research within POLiS – Cluster of Excellence. He has just returned from his research stay in Denmark. Why he chose Denmark, what challenges he had, what lessons he learned and wether or not his expectations were met are only some of the questions we discussed with him upon his return.

Clarissa Glaser is currently in her fourth year of her PhD in the Institute of Physical Chemistry at the Justus Liebig University Giessen (JLU) and member of the GS-EES – Graduate School Electrochemical Energy Storage. Clarissa has spent a three-months research stay in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Waterloo in Canada in the group of Prof. Linda Nazar. Due to an existing collaboration between Prof. Nazar and the Justus-Liebig-University Giessen in the field of materials research and the thematic overlap with her research on novel solid electrolytes for solid state magnesium batteries, the stay in Prof. Nazar's group was an easy decision for Clarissa.

Johanna Naumann is in the fourth year of her PhD and has recently returned from a research stay in Australia. We sat down with her to find out what she has experienced during that time and among other things, she told us how research on the other side of the world differs to her research within POLiS – Cluster of Excellence. A three-month research stay at a foreign laboratory is part of the GS-EES – Graduate School Electrochemical Energy Storage Core Program to support international networking and cultural experience.

To support international networking and cultural experience, Research Abroad – a three-month research stay at a foreign laboratory – is part of the GS-EES Core Program. Krishnaveni Palanisamy, doctoral student at the Institute of Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry at Ulm University is doing her research within POLiS – Cluster of Excellence and has just completed her research stay abroad in the USA. Following her return, we have spoken to Krishnaveni to get further insights on her experience abroad.

As part of the GS-EES Core Program, Julian Klemens and Ann-Kathrin Wurba have spent a three-month research stay at CIDETEC Energy Storage in Spain (Donostia-San Sebastián). During their research stay abroad, they have explored the challenges of large-scale production of sodium-ion batteries (SIB).