HNEE wins the 1st Brandenburg Science Slam

Five researchers from Brandenburg presented their science in the fully booked hall of the BrauWerk Schwedt/Oder on Friday evening - it was funny, sometimes thought-provoking and filled the mind with new knowledge.

"Can wood fly?" asked Prof Alexander Pfriem, Vice President of the Eberswalde University for Sustainable Development (HNEE) to kick off the event and demonstrated the different properties of the "underestimated material wood". The second presentation focussed on a completely different topic. Ron van de Sand from the TH Wildau explained how intelligent refrigerators can make engineers' lives "chillier" and save a lot of money in the process.

The topics that followed were just as varied as they were on the pulse of the times. Lisa Kurapkat, a student at HNEE, explained the benefits that trees on fields can have for climate change. And Dr Moritz Kirchner from the University of Potsdam explained how psychology can explain Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine.

The "slammies", as presenter Melanie Adam called the contributors, gave their all and knew how to get the audience involved. After each presentation, the audience was allowed to vote on how comprehensible, informative and entertaining the presentation was. They awarded points from 1-10 and had to agree on a rating with their neighbours - which sometimes led to heated discussions.

The winner of the evening was Prof Alexander Conrad, who was born in Schwedt, is also employed at HNEE and is head of the region 4.0 project. His "home game" lecture on "(survival) in rural regions" delighted the audience and strained their laughing muscles.

"It was an organisational challenge - especially as there were a total of seven science slams taking place in parallel this evening, not just in Schwedt but throughout Brandenburg," said Juliane Roloff, Head of the Schwedt | Uckermark office and organiser of the evening. "But the effort was worth it. The huge turnout showed us that bringing science to the region is an important task. This will certainly not be the last Science Slam in Schwedt."

An HNEE scientist also came out on top at the Science Slam in Luckenwalde. Jenny Hammerich impressed the audience with her presentation on "Biodiversity of peatlands".