How does an international research institute work?

A day as a researcher and management assistant: Girls' & Boys' Day 2024

On 25 April, the Max Planck Institute for Sustainable Materials (MPI SusMat) opened its doors for this year’s Girls' Day & Boys' Day and offered fascinating insights into the world of materials science. The Boys' Day gave pupils a unique opportunity to experience a day as an assistant to the management. Meanwhile, the Girls' Day enabled a great chance to experience what it is like to be a researcher in the field of sustainable materials.

Cutting-edge research is only possible with the help of the best minds in the world. This is why the institute places such importance on coordination and planning. It is a way of attracting and supporting excellent researchers at MPI SusMat: A win-win for everyone involved!

The Boys' Day participants learned how to manage the application of foreign scientists to the institute and how to help them during their first days before and after arriving in Germany. The pupils reviewed CVs and interviewed the applicants online. As management assistants, they also gained an insight into the daily tasks of the institute’s directors.

At Girls' Day, the participants were able to get to the bottom of the crucial question of our time: How can we continue to produce urgently needed materials for our trains, cars and buildings without harming the environment? The schoolgirls learnt about alternative ways of producing steel using hydrogen. Together with materials testers and scientists, they put their material samples through their paces and then analyzed them down to the individual atoms under a scanning electron microscope.

The Girls' & Boys' Day is a nationwide career orientation day giving pupils the opportunity to experience professional fields in which the sexes are underrepresented. On Boys' Day, boys get to know care or education professions, for example. Girls get an insight into trades, science and technology. The goal is to provide a platform where young people can explore their potential career and study options without being constrained by gender roles or stereotypes. Moreover, centrally organized workshops that delve into the topic of role models and gender-specific expectations are offered.