The Ministry of Science and Culture of Lower Saxony has approved the application Hannover School for Nanotechnology: Nanomaterials and Quantum Technology for Digital Transformation (hsn-digital) for a doctoral programme in Lower Saxony. The principal investigators are university lecturers from the Leibniz Research Centre Laboratory for Nano and Quantum Engineering (LNQE) at Leibniz University Hannover and Hannover University of Applied Sciences and Arts. Coordinator of this program is LNQE board member Professor Dr. Rolf Haug. Fifteen Georg-Christoph-Lichtenberg fellowships as well as the necessary consumables and travel expenses were approved. The total funding amount is 900.000, - Euro for the period from 01.10.2019 to 30.09.2024. The application was positively evaluated by the Scientific Commission of Lower Saxony and "convinces in all aspects". A total of seven new programmes from 31 submitted applications will be funded. With hsn-digital, the Laboratory for Nano and Quantum Engineering with the Hannover School for Nanotechnology has now acquired such a programme three times in a row!
The aim of hsn-digital is the interdisciplinary education of young scientists in the highly topical field of nanotechnology with a focus on nanomaterials as digital memories and qubits, quantum engineering of qubits, the miniaturization of qubits and their connection to the macroscopic outside world. The program will be integrated as a new "class" into the Hannover School for Nanotechnology, in which the doctoral programs on "Nanotechnology for Energy" (hsn-energy) and " Nanosensor Technology" (hsn-sensors) have already been very successfully run. Nanomaterials and quantum technology for digital transformation is the new specialisation area of the Hannover School for Nanotechnology, which as an umbrella organisation provides the necessary structure for the sustainable promotion of young researchers in this area.
The miniaturisation of conventional silicon-based electronics is reaching its physical end. The digital revolution requires new materials in order to make data storage ever smaller. For this purpose, the necessary nanomaterials are being researched in hsn-digital. This includes the targeted, large-scale arrangement of nanomaterials. Nanomaterials are also suitable for labelling and marking products. In addition, quantum technologies will have a dramatic impact on society in the near future. In order, for example, to protect the general public against unintentional interception of all sensitive data, it will be necessary to provide appropriate technological options, such as encrypting and decrypting data using quantum cryptology methods. A race for the exploration of the necessary qubits is already in full swing worldwide. hsn-digital will research nanomaterials and concepts to realize qubits that can be miniaturized and integrated into the electronic devices of everyday life.
The questions and topic complexes of hsn-digital can only be worked on and solved by close cooperation of different scientific disciplines. In hsn-digital, researchers from physics, chemistry and engineering will collaborate on an interdisciplinary basis. An essential goal of hsn-digital is to instruct and train doctoral students in interdisciplinary work. They receive a tailor-made range of courses with lectures in nanotechnology, nanomaterials and quantum technology, doctoral seminars, colloquia on digitalisation and workshops to promote personal skills, good scientific practice and social aspects of their research.
The aim of hsn-digital is to provide excellent education without loss of quality in excellent research projects with the shortest possible duration of doctorates. The ambitious goal is to complete a doctorate within the maximum period of three years. For the most excellent students, hsn-digital offers a fast-track option. In accordance with the interdisciplinary orientation of the doctoral programme, each doctoral student is supervised by two lecturers from different disciplines, i.e. cooperative supervision.
The hsn-digital offers excellent conditions for doctoral studies, especially through the cooperation of its partners. Through basic research at Leibniz University Hannover and its implementation in applications and demonstrators at Hannover University of Applied Sciences and Arts, scholarship holders experience the entire research chain of an idea for a possible product. Through the lively interdisciplinary exchange with the various partners in the institutes and the guest stays with international partners, the students are trained in a maximum interdisciplinary way, internationally and with all the personal competences that are increasingly required nowadays. A special focus of hsn-digital is the support of young female scientists, who are underrepresented in most natural and engineering sciences. The spatial centre of hsn-digital will be the LNQE research building (as already at hsn). All events, workshops and seminars will take place there and the hsn-office will be located there.
Note to Editors
For more information, please contact Dr. Fritz Schulze-Wischeler from the Laboratory of Nano and Quantum Engineering at telephone +49 511 762 16014 or by e-mail schulze-wischeler@LNQE.uni-hannover.de.
