Excellent research

Nils Christiansen and Zina Kallien at the award ceremony at the Helmholtz office in Berlin. Photo: Hereon/ Nils Christiansen

Dr.-Ing. Zina Kallien is a scientist at the Institute of Material and Process Design and carried out her doctoral thesis within the Solid State Materials Processing department on the topic of "Investi-gation of friction surfacing of an Al-Mg alloy in view of solid-state additive manufacturing". Friction surfacing is a solid-state layer deposition technique for metallic materials and shows potential for coatings, repair or additive manufacturing. Zina Kalliens thesis presents a comprehensive insight into the process principle as well as into the properties of structures built via friction surfacing. The results are fundamental for the development of this green materials processing technology to-wards application. The Helmholtz Association honors this success with the doctoral prize in Track A (for basic knowledge-driven research) in Helmholtz Information. The prize is endowed with prize money of 5,000 euros as well as a travel and material allowance of up to 2,000 euros per month for a stay abroad at an international research institution of up to six months.

Dr. Nils Christiansen completed his doctoral thesis on "Regional impacts of offshore wind farms on the North Sea hydrodynamics" as a doctoral student at the Department of Matter Transport and Ecosystem Dynamics at the Institute of Coastal Systems - Analysis and Modeling. He investigated how offshore wind farms affect the physics of the North Sea and developed methods to integrate these effects into our ocean models. With the help of numerical modeling, he was able to show that the influence of wind farms on currents can lead to systematic changes in ocean dynamics. These findings help us to better understand future changes and can serve as an important basis for making the expansion of offshore wind energy more environmentally friendly. Awarded the Helmholtz PhD Prize in Track B (for research at the interface between science and application) in the research field Earth and Environment, he won prize money of 5,000 euros and funding for a Helmholtz Field Study Fellowship of up to three months.

The Helmholtz Doctoral Prize was awarded on April 29, 2024 at the Helmholtz Association's office in Berlin. Congratulations on this success!