Mickel Hansen and Michael Lerch selected to participate to the 67th Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting

Mickel Hansen and Michael Lerch (PhD students in Ben Feringa's group) have been selected to participate to the 67th Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting.

400 young scientists from 76 countries have been selected to participate in the 67th Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting. From 25 – 30 June 2017 they will meet with Nobel Laureates at Lake Constance. This year’s meeting is dedicated to chemistry. Thus far, 31 Nobel laureates have confirmed their participation.

The young scientists are outstanding undergraduate students, graduate students and post-docs under the age of 35, conducting research in the field of chemistry. They have successfully passed a multi-stage international selection process. 155 scientific institutes, universities, foundations and research-oriented companies contributed to the nominations. The selected young scientists originate from big research nations like the US, the UK, Japan, Israel, and Germany, but also from developing countries such as Bangladesh, Myanmar and Benin.

The proportion of women among the selected young scientists is 45 percent. “For the field of chemistry, that is a substantial number”, says Wolfgang Lubitz, Director of the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Energy Conversion, Vice-President of the Council for the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings and scientific co-chairperson of this year’s meeting.

“The quality of applicants was again extremely high”, says Burkhard Fricke, professor emeritus for theoretical physics and coordinator of the selection process. “Some of the young scientists who applied had very impressive CVs. It is highly unfortunate that we can only invite 400 of them.”

Due to the ongoing modernisation of the local conference venue, the meeting will once again take place in Lindau’s city theatre. Accordingly, the usual number of just under 600 participating young scientists had to be reduced to 400.

The Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings take place every year since 1951 and are designed as a forum for exchange, networking and inspiration. In Lindau, excellent young researchers meet the most acclaimed scientists of their field.

Bernard Feringa and Jean-Pierre Sauvage, who received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2016, together with Sir Fraser Stoddart, for the design of molecular machines, will also participate in this year’s meeting. Besides molecular machines, the key topics of the 67th Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting will include big data, climate change and the role of science in a “post-truth” era.

The selected young scientists may expect a six-day programme with numerous lectures and panel discussions. Some of them will also get the opportunity to discuss their own work at one of the master classes or at the poster session. “This is a unique opportunity for the young scientists to present their research in front of an international audience and receive invaluable feedback from Nobel Laureates.”, says Wolfgang Lubitz. In addition to the scientific programme, the meeting offers many opportunities for the young scientists to socialise with the Nobel Laureates, and of course with each other, in a relaxed atmosphere.