About Career Perspectives, Hydrogen, and Flying Whales

Looking Ahead 

The program opened with a 1.5-day interactive workshop on the summer school theme of “Future Careers.” In order to explore career options and sharpen individual goals, Prof. Dr. Gabriele Raabe (SE²A board member) and Tatjana Szalkau (SE²A Managing Office), responsible for supporting early-career researchers, invited career coaches Dr.-Ing Thomas Löbel and Kevin Otto Lais. In a variety of sessions, we were guided through input sessions, group work, and plenary discussions. The interesting program was complemented by a follow-up Q&A session with Dr. Tobias Mertens, Head of Surface Technology & Fire Safety at Airbus, who gave us insights into his company's activities and shared personal experiences from his own career, answering every question posed by the doctoral researchers.

Excursion to the Hydrogen Terminal Braunschweig

On the afternoon of the second day, Jun. Prof. Michael Heere, Max Ebert and his dedicated colleagues took us on an exciting tour of the state-of-the-art hydrogen terminal in Braunschweig. At this centre of competence for research on the hydrogen value chain, which opened in 2024 , we saw how expertise from various faculties and institutes is brought together to advance application-oriented research in specially equipped laboratories.
We would like to express our sincere thanks for the interesting insights and the great support we received on site! 

Another highlight to round off the event: technical presentation and guided tour at Airbus

This year's event wrapped up with another trip, this time to the Airbus site in Hamburg-Finkenwerder, where we also got a really warm welcome. A presentation by Hanno Niemann and Ralf Herrmann, both TU Braunschweig alumni, gave us some insight into how the aircraft fuselage is made, the strict safety measures, and how the site is organized internally. The following two-and-a-half-hour tour took us through large parts of the production area, and across the site, which employs around 18,000 people and is organized like a small town: in addition to company doctors and its own fire department, there is also a ferry connection across the Elbe to the plant, reserved for Airbus employees.
In addition to the many aircraft and components in the hangars, we were also able to watch the Airbus Beluga XL, the famous cargo plane known as the “whale” because of its shape, make its landing approach. Another special highlight!