YOUR IDEA. YOUR CITY. YOUR POSTER.
To showcase the diversity and potential of research in Berlin, we invited researchers across the city to present their projects. No matter the institution, whether it was a bachelor’s thesis, basic research or a PhD project, a foundation, a museum, or another academic context – all were welcome to take part in our ideas competition.
With more than 80 submissions, the competition revealed just how diverse, creative, and socially relevant research in Berlin is – especially in the BUA’s Grand Challenge areas: social cohesion, global health, responsible innovation, climate and water under change, and quantum technologies.
Here are the winners in the five categories:
GLOBAL HEALTH
Nico Marquardt (Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin and Hasso Plattner Institute): Using AI to reduce maternal mortality
Nico is researching AI-based solutions to detect risks during pregnancy and childbirth at an early stage. His work focuses on how these AI applications can be scaled up, particularly in countries with limited resources.
SOCIAL COHESION
Silvan Hornstein (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin): Interventions against loneliness
Silvan is developing an app that uses psychological techniques to help young people train social skills and overcome unhelpful thought patterns. The goal is to integrate the app into standard healthcare as a preventive service.
CLIMATE AND WATER UNDER CHANGE
Prof. Dr. Irina Engelhardt (Technische Universität Berlin): SpreeWasser:N
Irina and her team are studying the aquifer system in the Berlin-Brandenburg region and exploring artificial groundwater recharge as a means of replenishing the area‘s severely depleted groundwater levels.
RESPONSIBLE INNOVATION
Dr. Tiziana Guerra (Freie Universität Berlin): An early warning system for plant diseases
Tiziana is developing molecular indicator plants that emit light in greenhouses when infected by fungi. This precision technology has the potential to improve both crop quality and yield, and is currently being tested on medicinal cannabis.
QUANTUM TECHNOLOGIES
Marco Stucki (Ferdinand-Braun-Institut, Leibniz-Institut für Höchstfrequenztechnik): Building Quantum Technology with Diamonds
Marco is developing methods to produce tiny diamond structures that could serve as the foundation for future quantum computers. These so-called “sawfish cavities” also emit quantum light, which may enable the creation of quantum communication networks.