MAX PLANCK SCHOOLS DAY 2025

JOIN US FOR AN INSPIRING EVENT IN BERLIN

Together with the three Max Planck Schools – Cognition, Matter to Life, and Photonics – we are looking forward to welcoming the PhD candidates of the sixth cohort this fall. On behalf of Prof. Patrick Cramer, President of the Max Planck Society, and Prof. Walter Rosenthal, President of the German Rectors' Conference, we cordially invite you to attend the annual

MAX PLANCK SCHOOLS DAY

on October 9, 2025

Harnack House Berlin

from 11 a.m. (CEST) onward

This year, our event will focus on science in the age of artificial intelligence (AI). Besides an engaging debate with two experts in the field and interactive workshops, we are excited to have Prof. Karin Jacobs, Fellow of the Max Planck School Matter to Life, talk about her passion for science and how this feeds into the Max Planck Schools. Most of all, we want to once again provide our PhD candidates, Fellows and representatives of our partner organizations a platform to meet and network in person. 

Join us for a lively event at the Harnack House Berlin, celebrate the start of the new academic year,
and take the opportunity to meet and network!

REGISTRATION

REGISTER HERE

PROGRAM

CONFIRMED SPEAKERS

WELCOME AND CLOSING

Ferdi Schüth

Member Max Planck Schools Steering Committee

Max-Planck-Institut für Kohlenforschung I Director Heterogeneous Catalysis

Ferdi Schüth was born in 1960, studied chemistry and law at Münster University, Germany, and completed his Ph.D. in Chemistry in 1988. After a post-doc with L. D. Schmidt at the University of Minnesota, he joined the group of K. Unger in Mainz for his habilitation. In 1995 he became full professor at Frankfurt University, and in 1998 moved to Mülheim to become director at the Max-Planck-Institut für Kohlenforschung. He was vice president of the German Research Foundation (DFG) and until 2020 of the Max Planck Society. His research interests include catalysis, zeolites, porous materials, and energy-related topics.

Walter Rosenthal

President of the German Rectors' Conference

German Rectors' Conference

Walter Rosenthal is a physician and pharmacologist and has been President of Friedrich Schiller University Jena since 2014. Previously, he was Director of what is now the Leibniz Institute for Molecular Pharmacology from 1996 to 2009 and thereafter Chairman of the foundation's board and Scientific Director of the Max Delbrück Center, a research center of the Helmholtz Association, until 2014. He is a member of the Leopoldina, the Senate of the Leibniz Association, as well as Dean of the Max Planck Schools. In 2022, he was named "Higher Education Manager of the Year" by the newspaper "Die Zeit" and the Centre for Higher Education. He is recognized as a specialist in signal transduction (G-Proteins, G-protein-coupled receptors and anchoring proteins). Since May 2023, he is now President of the German Rectors’ Conference, and he will continue as Dean of the Max Planck Schools until December 2023. © HRK/Jürgen Scheere

PASSION FOR SCIENCE LECTURE

Karin Jacobs

Fellow Max Planck School Matter to Life I Research Focus: Physics of Soft Matter

Saarland University I Research Group for Soft Matter Physics

Karin Jacobs is a German physicist specializing in micro-fluidics and adhesion at micro- and nanometer scales. She studied physics at the University of Konstanz. After postdoctoral research at the Max Planck Institute for Colloids and Interfaces, research positions at the University of Ulm, and project leadership at Bayer AG, she became Professor of Experimental Physics at Saarland University in 2002. She coordinated a priority program of the German Research Foundation (DFG) on microfluidics and is a member of the DFG Collaborative Research Center SFB 1027 on biophysical research. Since 2015, she has been a member of the Academy of Sciences and Literature, and since 2022, of the Göttingen Academy of Sciences. Since 2021 she serves as Vice President of the DFG. © Universität des Saarlandes / J. Pütz

PANEL ON SCIENCE IN THE AGE OF AGE OF AI

Leonardo Pettini

PhD candidate Max Planck School of Cognition I Research Focus: Visual Memory

Max Planck School of Cognition

Human cognition relies on the brain's ability to represent visual information during perception, working memory, and long-term memory. A major challenge when studying how these cognitive functions interact is balancing ecological validity with experimental control, but generative AI offers new solutions. We used a diffusion model to develop a stimulus set of naturalistic images that vary along controlled perceptual gradients. This enables us to investigate in a controlled way how the early visual cortex represents naturalistic information during perception and memory maintenance, and how long-term memory affects this process. Our work demonstrates how generative AI can be used to solve experimental bottlenecks and advance naturalistic understanding of human cognition. © Caitlin Kelly

Wolf-Georg Ringe

Director Institute of Law & Economics, University of Hamburg I Research Focus: Law and Finance

University of Hamburg - Faculty of Law

Professor Georg Ringe teaches law and finance at the University of Hamburg and at the University of Oxford. His research explores law, technology, and sustainability in the broader context of corporate law, capital markets, and financial regulation, with an interdisciplinary and comparative focus. He is a Research Member of the European Corporate Governance Institute (Brussels), Vice-President at the European Banking Institute (Frankfurt), and co-editor of the Journal of Financial Regulation. He was a Visiting Professor at Columbia University and Stanford Law School.

Klaus-Robert Müller

Chair Machine Learining Group TU Berlin I Research Focus: Machine Learning

Machine Learning Group TU Berlin

Klaus-Robert Müller received his Diplom in mathematical physics and PhD in theoretical computer science from the University of Karlsruhe. He has been a professor of computer science at Technische Universität Berlin since 2006; at the same time he is directing rsp. co-directing the Berlin Machine Learning Center and the Berlin Big Data Center and most recently BIFOLD . He studied physics in Karlsruhe from 1984 to 1989 and obtained his Ph.D. degree in computer science at Technische Universität Karlsruhe in 1992. After completing a postdoctoral position at GMD FIRST in Berlin, he was a research fellow at the University of Tokyo from 1994 to 1995. In 1995, he founded the Intelligent Data Analysis group at GMD-FIRST (later Fraunhofer FIRST) and directed it until 2008. From 1999 to 2006, he was a professor at the University of Potsdam. From 2012 he has been Distinguished Professor at Korea University in Seoul. In 2020/2021 he spent his sabbatical at Google Brain as a Principal Scientist. © BIFOLD

SCIENCE TALKS - INSIGHTS BY SELECTED PhD CANDIDATES

Anastassiya Schramm

PhD candidate Max Planck School Matter to Life I Research Focus: NIR-Responsive Vesicle Systems

Max Planck School Matter to Life I MPI for Medical Research

Cargo delivery systems can revolutionize medicine by transporting drugs precisely where needed, minimizing side effects. Passive carriers are simple but lack control, while active systems respond to environmental cues for targeted, efficient release. Among these, hybrids of lipid vesicles and gold nanoparticles stand out for their biomimicry, tunable properties, and strong photothermal responsiveness. My work develops a near-infrared light-triggered platform using giant unilamellar vesicles functionalized with gold nanorods, enabling precise, on-demand release. This versatile approach can be adapted to different cargos and targeting strategies, offering a promising foundation for next-generation therapeutics, advanced diagnostics, and smart biomedical devices

Yuliya Kovalchuk

PhD candidate Max Planck School of Cognition I Research Focus: Somatosensory Plasticity

Max Planck School of Cognition I Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin

Our brain is remarkably plastic, constantly reorganizing itself in response to the environment, especially during childhood. While this plasticity supports learning and adaptation, it also makes the brain highly sensitive to adverse experiences. Our project investigated how childhood sexual abuse shapes the female genital cortex - a little-studied brain region that processes genital sensation. Using functional and structural MRI, we found decreased thickness in the left genital cortex of women with such experiences, independent of their adult sexual activity. These results curiously challenge the well-known “Use it or Lose it” principle of brain plasticity, showing instead that early trauma can recalibrate structural development in lasting ways, and offering hope for novel treatments restoring plasticity and function. © Max Eicke

Daniele Ronchetti

PhD candidate Max Planck School of Photonics I Research Focus: Ultrafast X-ray Science

Max Planck School of Photonics I Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY

My research focuses on x-ray scattering under extreme conditions, with hands-on involvement in experiment design, sample preparation, data acquisition, and analysis using X-ray Free Electron Lasers (XFELs). My PhD project explores enhancing atomic scattering by tailoring electronic states via photo-ionization, aiming to advance XFEL-based scattering and crystallographic techniques.

CONTACT AND FURTHER INFORMATION

For any questions regarding the registration process, please contact our event agency compactteam:

E-Mail: mpsday@compact-team.de
Phone: +49 (0)30 44 38 00 72 

For any questions regarding the Max Planck Schools or the Max Planck Schools Day, please contact
the Max Planck Schools Central Coordination Team:

E-Mail: maxplanckschools@gv.mpg.de
Phone: +49 (0)89 2108 1873

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