Successful 2nd NRW-wide PhD Day „Future Bioeconomy“

What is bioeconomy and what are the career opportunities within this modern and interdisciplinary field? These questions were in the focus of the 2nd PhD Day NRW „Future Bioeconomy“ that took place on 1st of December in Bonn. The goal of this meeting was to gather young scientists from different scientific fields and locations in NRW. About 50 PhD students from Aachen, Bonn, Cologne, Düsseldorf, Jülich and Münster came together.

The event was jointly organised by six different scientific institutions from the state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), who offer a graduate training programme on a topic related to bioeconomy.

Prof. Ulrich Schurr (IBG-2 Plant Sciences, Forschungszentrum Jülich) gave a general introduction about bioeconomy and its social relevance resulting in first discussions with the audience. Prof. Michael Feldbrügge (Institute for Microbiology, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf) supplemented the first session with a report about his research projects in the context of a sustainable bioeconomy. He considers research as a driving force for a successful bioeconomy. The thematic focus changed in the second session of the event and was directed towards career opportunities in the field of bioeconomy. The invited guests Dr. Christian Dumpitak (iGRAD, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf), Charles van der Haegen (Zero Emissions Research and Initiatives) and Dr. Wilfried Blümke (Evonik Technology & Infrastructure GmbH) reported about their own as well as about alternative career paths in the field of academia, entrepreneurship and industry followed by an interactive panel discussion with the audience. The poster session and the final get-together provided further possibilities for deeper discussions.

Based on first feedback from the participants the 2nd PhD Day NRW „Future Bioeconomy“ was an interesting and useful information event and a stepping stone towards the establishment of an own scientific network.