"A place to grow, collaborate, and belong"

Looking back at the second Graduation Ceremony of the Max Planck Schools

On June 19, 2026, Deans, Fellows, coordination teams, families, and friends gathered at the FORUM on the Bildungscampus Heilbronn to celebrate the newest alumni of the three Max Planck Schools – Cognition, Matter to Life, and Photonics. What began as an inaugural event last year is now becoming a permanent fixture in the calendar of all three Schools.

The day, however, did not begin with the ceremony itself, but with a question shared across all three Schools: how can alumni remain connected to the network after completing their PhD? During a brainstorming session on alumni engagement, Cathrin Anna Jerie from ETH Zurich's Alumni Engagement Team provided fresh perspectives. Together, the graduates from all three Schools developed ideas for strengthening their community beyond the doctoral years. It set the tone for the rest of the day: exchange across disciplines and across all three Max Planck Schools.

In the afternoon, the event moved to the FORUM for the Graduation Ceremony 2026, framed by Heilbronn's annual Festival of Lights, whose spectacular light show illuminated the night sky above the Neckar. Deans Jan-Michael Rost and Joachim Hornegger welcomed everyone warmly and on their own PhD days—which, as Hornegger put it, "feels like a lifetime ago." He closed his welcome with advice that extends far beyond academic research: "Stay curious and hungry—our world needs more people who ask questions they don't yet know the answer to."

The following keynote speech was delivered by Johanna Wanka, former Federal Minister of Education and Research, who played a pivotal role in securing funding for the pilot phase during the founding years of the three Max Planck Schools. Together with then Max Planck Society President Martin Stratmann and the Schools' many partner institutions, she shared the vision of bringing together Germany's distributed scientific excellence within a novel cross-institutional graduate program.

In her address, Wanka also reflected on the relationship between science and society. At a time when echo chambers facilitate the spread of misinformation, she argued, science and society depend on one another more than ever. Public trust in science gives it particular influence—and with that comes responsibility, especially for researchers. She also cautioned against black-and-white thinking: if society expects innovation, it must also be willing to create the conditions that allow innovation to flourish. Plausibility, she reminded the audience, is not the same as causality. She therefore called for proportionality, openness toward long-term research, and for weighing both the opportunities and the risks that come with any new discovery. Having her as guest of honor carried particular symbolic significance. As Joachim Hornegger remarked during her introduction, "without her support, the Max Planck Schools probably would never have seen the light of day“.

Representing the Dieter Schwarz Foundation, Miriam Biller also addressed the graduates. She emphasized that today's major breakthroughs no longer emerge within disciplinary silos but at the interfaces between fields—the principle on which the Max Planck Schools are built upon. Heilbronn, she added, provides ideal conditions through its vibrant ecosystem of science, business, and entrepreneurship.

Then came the moment everyone had been waiting for: the ceremonial presentation of certificates by the Deans. The excitement was evident throughout the audience, among families and guests alike, but above all on the smiling faces of the graduates themselves. Accompanied by warm applause and countless cameras capturing this special moment, they stepped forward to receive their certificates.

Perhaps the most personal part of the afternoon belonged to the alumni themselves. One graduate from each School shared reflections on their research and their time in the program, weaving personal anecdotes into their stories. Sophie Holtz (MPS Cognition alumna) spoke about the different "flavours" of science brought together within the Max Planck Schools and advocated for developing a shared language across disciplinary boundaries. Aysecan Ünal (MPS Matter to Life alumna) highlighted the value of informal conversations during the Max Planck Schools Day, Spring Days, and other events, noting that these often create the most lasting connections. Katsuya Tanaka (MPS Photonics alumnus) reflected enthusiastically on the joy he found in his research on shaping light and explained how it could one day find applications in advanced displays, augmented reality systems, or even endoscopy. Yet for him, the friendships formed within the Max Planck Schools community remain the most enduring part of his experience. Aysecan captured the spirit of the program best: "For all of us, the Max Planck Schools have been much more than a PhD program. They have been a place to grow, to collaborate, and to belong."

The evening concluded with a reception in the foyer, where the newly minted doctors celebrated together. The 2026 Graduation Ceremony in Heilbronn was a well-deserved celebration of a long and often demanding journey. And while one chapter closes for the graduates, another begins for the Max Planck Schools: the chapter of their alumni, who will now leave their own mark on science and society around the world.