Today, on 5 January 2021, the Dresden Promotionspreis (Doctoral Prize) Physik is awarded for the second time. Therewith, the two laureates, Dr Urban Seifert and Dr Ruben Verresen, are honored for their outstanding research work in the context of their doctoral theses in physics at TU Dresden. The prize, which is endowed with a total of 4,000 euros, is funded by the Wilhelm and Else Heraeus Foundation.

The Faculty of Physics at TU Dresden is organizing a special colloquium today, 5 January 2021. Starting at 4:40 p.m., the members of the Faculty of Physics meet in a virtual room under the direction of Dean Prof Michael Kobel with the Vice-Rector Research Prof Angela Rösen-Wolff, the laudator and Chair of the prize committee Prof Jan Budich, the two laureates and the interested public on the occasion of the awarding of the 2nd Dresden Promotionspreis Physik. The program includes greetings by the Vice-Rector, the laudation on the prize winners as well as two short scientific lectures by the laureates.

The fact that there are two prize winners this year is explained by the chairman of the prize committee, Prof Jan Budich, as follows: "It was an extremely difficult decision, as all nominees had excellent references. Both Dr Seifert, as well as Dr Verresen, are characterized by a clear and individual research profile and a variety of excellent scientific achievements. For this reason, we decided to split the award between the two."

Dr Urban Seifert receives the first half of the prize for his doctoral thesis "Novel phases and light-induced dynamics in quantum magnets" in the framework of the Collaborative Research Center 1143 - Correlated Magnetism: From Frustration to Topology. The prize committee states, "Dr Seifert stands out by the clarity and precision with which he describes his deep insights into his field of research as well as his excellent record of journal publications." Dr Seifert feels extremely honored saying, "I am very happy and feel honored for my PhD research to be recognized with the Promotionspreis Physik. It may be read as a culmination of three invaluable and extremely stimulating years working with Prof Matthias Vojta at TU Dresden. The prize encourages and motivates me to further pursue my research interests, building on what I have learnt in Dresden. I am convinced the recognition and associated visibility will be helpful in pursuing an academic career."

The second half of the prize honors Dr Ruben Verresen for his doctoral thesis "Topology and Excitations in Low-Dimensional Quantum Matter" which he accomplished at the Max Planck Institute for Physics of Complex Systems. In this work, he presents extremely impressive results on quantum phases and their excitations, which characterize him as a very creative and original young scientist. For Dr Verresen the award opens up a variety of opportunities for his future work: "It is an honor to receive the Promotionspreis Physik. While as a physicist, I am driven to understand the physical universe, the real joy for me lies in collaborating and sharing one's findings, so it is a pleasure to receive this recognition and appreciation of our research. I say 'our', since it is of course not a solo work. In fact, I thoroughly enjoyed the collaborative atmosphere I experienced in Dresden. I have learned a great deal from my advisors Prof Roderich Moessner (director at MPI-PKS and honorary professor at TUD) and Prof Frank Pollmann (MPI-PKS and TUM) and benefited from the CRC 1143 collaboration, which, under the direction of Prof Vojta, has brought together a vast number of institutes. This award also gives a great opportunity to re-evaluate my own work and make it as accessible as possible for today’s colloquium---an enjoyable exercise which has already given inspiration for new research paths to explore."

Both young scientists are continuing their scientific careers at extremely prestigious international universities: Urban Seifert is a postdoc at the École Normale Supérieure de Lyon and Ruben Verresen accepted a postdoctoral position at Harvard in 2019. We wish both of them every success in their future careers and would be delighted to continue the fruitful collaboration with TU Dresden.

Media inquiries:
Prof Jan Budich
Tel.: +49 351 463-34601

Nicole Gierig
Public Relations Advisor
Tel.: +49 351 463-39504