Promotion of early-career researchers 2023

© Tanja Kirsten

The SchauRein! initiative enables young people from grade 7 onwards to gain their first impressions of the world of work and to try out practical work experience. Practice-oriented tasks and the opportunity to ask questions about internships or training opportunities offer young people many advantages. They provide realistic insights into everyday working life and promote the development of relevant skills for the professional field. This allows participants to assess whether the professional field matches their interests and skills and make valuable contacts through direct exchange.

As part of the SchauRein! initiative, pupils were invited to a guided tour of the ILK building in March 2023. The aim was to give the participants an insight into the ILK's impressive machinery, to show them the wide range of career opportunities and prospects in the field of lightweight engineering and to inspire the young people to study at the ILK in the future. During a guided tour of the technical halls on the Johannstadt campus, they learned about the Institute's production and testing processes. The exchange with the scientists and technicians enabled the young people to get to know the challenges and opportunities of studying at the ILK. In addition, the students were able to attend practical demonstrations in the field of lightweight engineering, such as the braiding and winding of carbon fiber components or geometries that are later processed into fiber composite components. This gave the students the opportunity to get a realistic picture of the tasks and activities that they can expect as part of a career in lightweight engineering and plastics technology. The event not only opened the doors to exciting fields of research and application for the girls and boys, but also created an inspiring platform for an intensive exchange to support the students in their search for their dream job and offer them valuable guidance for their professional future.

© Girls´Day

According to statistics from the Federal Employment Agency in 2023, around 21,000 women in Germany started a dual STEM apprenticeship, which is 10.5% more than in 2017. This increase reflects the increased efforts to get young women interested in careers in mathematics, IT, science and technology. One example of this is Girls' Day, which offers young women the opportunity to gain career guidance. On this nationwide day of action in April 2023, schoolgirls can get to know professions and fields of study in which the proportion of women is below 40 %.

The ILK once again actively participated in this day of action and gave ten girls a comprehensive insight into the disciplines of lightweight construction and plastics technology and dispelled the prejudices and clichés in this field. Dr. Anja Winkler and Lisa Dahrmann told the girls about their careers as engineers and answered numerous questions. During a guided tour through the technical halls of the ILK on the Johannstadt campus, the schoolgirls were introduced to various production and testing processes. They experienced everyday working life at the Lightweight Innovation Center (LIZ), Plastics Application Center (KAZ) and Process Development Center (PEZ) and observed various live experiments up close, such as testing crash structures with high-speed measurement technology in the drop tower. The girls were particularly enthusiastic about 3D printing technology because they were able to experience the versatile possibilities and innovative nature of this technology at first hand. 3D printing makes it possible to produce complex and individual objects directly from digital models, which allows for enormous design freedom and creativity. The students had the opportunity to see unique lightweight structures and even make their own buttons from fiber composites as a small souvenir. At the end, all participants successfully completed a lightweight construction course and were awarded the title of "Junior Engineer". Girls'Day was an inspiring day that gave the participants valuable insights and new perspectives!

Further information can be found on the Girls'Day homepage Girls'Day (girls-day.de)

© TUD/ILK

At UNI-TAG 2023, TU DRESDEN's OPEN HOUSE FOR PROSPECTIVE STUDENTS, pupils, students and interested parties had the opportunity to discover the ILK's Department of Lightweight Enginnering at one of the numerous stands in the Auditorium Center (HSZ) of TU Dresden. The Institute presented itself with unique 3D-printed components, demonstrators and fiber-reinforced structures with integrated sensors as well as LED displays to try out - all made at the ILK. A special eye-catcher was the e-bike in fiber-reinforced lightweight engineering with numerous measuring devices. When some visitors lifted it up, they realized that at 23 kg (without display devices), it is actually lighter than it looks. The stand showed the young people that lightweight engineering is represented in a wide variety of industries. It is not just a topic for purely technical areas, such as the aviation and automotive industries, but also has many applications in the fields of leisure, sport, medicine, furniture and even art!

© TUD/ILK

Further information about the next UNI-DAY can be found on the following website:
UNI-DAY - University Information Day at TU Dresden

In August 2023, many young people were once again able to gain an insight into the world of lightweight engineers and get to know the ILK. In addition to 10 high school graduates preparing for their studies as part of TU Dresden's tryING program, high school graduates from the vocational high school BSZ für Elektrotechnik Dresden and 20 international students from all over the world (TU9-ING week) were on site and were able to experience first-hand what tasks await them in their future studies and professional life. The young people got a taste of the ILK's production and testing halls and learned how components are designed, materials are developed and fiber composite components are manufactured and tested. Wearing white protective coats, blue gloves and large safety goggles, they rivaled our in-house staff in terms of production quality as soon as they arrived at the ILK.

But do the components really deliver what they promise? Using various test methods, they were able to directly compare the quality of the components produced using the same manufacturing process. A competition broke out to see which component could achieve the best mechanical properties and whether these were better than those of our lightweightengineering students. The events focused in particular on the exchange between young people and the Institute's employees.
There was a lot of discussion about everyday working life, individual careers and diverse interests. We can look back on two enriching days and look forward to welcoming the participants back to TU Dresden and perhaps to the ILK in a few semesters' time.

tryING 2023

© JuniorIng.

The non-profit association for junior engineering and science education in Saxony - juniorIng. Sachsen e. V. for short - was founded in 2009 by employees of the ILK at TU Dresden. With our activities, we want to awaken an interest in technology in children and young people at an early age, and to challenge and encourage them in the long term. We work closely with scientific and cultural organizations in Dresden and throughout Saxony.

We organize informative, but also practice-oriented events on a variety of lightweight engineering topics for all age groups: for day-care centres, schools, vocational schools, grammar schools and for society at large. The topics range from the structure of the relevant materials, possible construction methods or designs to the integration of additional functions or the sustainability of lightweight structures.

We also support educational staff in teaching engineering and science in an age-appropriate and practical way, for example by organizing project days and weeks or supervising school work at the ILK. To this end, we develop and lend out illustrative and experimental materials such as materials, construction methods and processing kits. In close cooperation with the ILK, we also carry out child-friendly experiments directly with the respective target groups.

As a result of these activities, we have already experienced exciting and fun moments with many children and young people, as well as with their parents, teachers or other caregivers, imparting knowledge in a playful way and gaining educational experiences on both sides.

In 2023, we were once again able to offer many activities that gave young people in particular a taste of the world of lightweight engineers. These included project days with school classes, participation in SchauRein! or Girls' Day. We were also able to support the students from Martin-Andersen-Nexö-Gymnasium in the preparation and defense of their scientific papers (KOLL and BELL) and inspire prospective female students with the production and testing of fiber composites as part of the trial studies tryING. In addition, our association has been represented on the board of the Landesverband Sächsischer Jugendbildungswerke e. V. (LJBW) since 2021 and supports it in the Saxony-wide coordination of STEM activities and school social work.

Do you have any questions or suggestions? We look forward to hearing from you!

How can children from the age of four be introduced to technology and science? The Association of German Engineers (VDI ) provides an innovative answer to this question with the VDI-ni-Clubs. In this program, children experience the world of technology in a playful way. The VDIni-Club adapts to the different learning habits and needs of the children. According to the principle of independent discovery, children should have as free and uncontrolled an experience as possible. In line with this motto, the ILK, together with the Institute of Solid Mechanics (IFKM) at TU Dresden and juniorIng. Sachsen e.V., welcomed around 30 young Leipzig VDInis aged between four and twelve with their accompanying adults and the head of the Leipzig VDIni Club, Falk Graupner, to the Johannstadt Lightweight Construction Campus in Dresden at the beginning of September 2023. After Dr. Anja Winkler and Prof. Markus Kästner introduced the children to TU Dresden and research at the ILK and IFKM respectively in short presentations and a tour of the laboratories, the children were able to try their hand at several stations. The older ones tested their newly acquired knowledge in a lightweight construction course. Using augmented reality glasses, the children tested interactive applications developed in the FOREL project KORESIL with Dr. Daniel Weck from the ILK to provide support in the workplace. Personalized engraved straws were a popular highlight. Finally, the inner courtyard was transformed into an eBike test track, where the kids tried out the ePredict bikes under the guidance of Prof. Kästner and Dr. Peter Hantschke (IFKM) and generated a lot of measurement data on riding behavior