TU Dresden scientists will work closely together with Russian and Ukrainian scientists in four new research projects, funded by the Volkswagen Foundation with a total amount of approximately 250 K Euros per project. The Dresden projects in the fields of Slavonic Studies, Hydrosciences, Mathematics and Physics are 4 out of 39 projects selected by the VW foundation from over 200 applications. This novel platform “Trilateral Partnerships – Cooperation projects between scientists from Ukraine, Russia and Germany” constitutes a VW initiative that aims at strengthening the cross-border cooperation between scholars, scientists and academic institutions from all parties involved, with a particular focus on young academics, and also independent of the current political conflicts between any of these countries.

“Aggression and Argumentation:  Discourses of Conflict and Their Linguistic Negotiation” (Dr. Marina Scharlaj, Institute of Slavonic Studies)
Since the protests of the Euromaidan, the Ukraine has become a space where conflicting discourses of legitimation and competing values are staged. The project is interested in how conflicts are created, expressed and solved. Political speeches and legal documents, in combination with radio, television and print media, and social networks form the source basis. The common attitudes, traditional values, historical references and images are discussed with regard to the respective national contexts in order to work out the linguistic negotiation of aggression, argumentation, cooperation and conflict.

Project start: May 2016
Project partners:
TU Dresden, Institute of Slavonic Studies (Dr. Marina Scharlaj)
Donetsk National University (Vinnytsia)/Ukraine, Institute of Journalism (Dr. Olena Taranenko)
Herzen State Pedagogical University of Russia, St. Petersburg Russia, Department of    Russian Language (Prof. Valerii Efremov)

“Management of Transboundary Rivers between Ukraine, Russia and the EU“ (Prof. Christian Bernhofer, Chair of Meteorology)
The CAWR (Center for Advanced Water Research) exemplarily analyses three transnational river basins in the border area between Ukraine, Russia and the EU and permits to strengthen the long-standing, successful cooperation between the partners. The aim is to develop solutions to the important, common issues of water resources management. A significant problem is the water pollution caused by nutrients, pesticides, domestic and industrial sewage which can have a serious impact on the ecology, economy and the health of the population. In this project the scientists envision to assess the status quo and to set up a joint meta-database. Furthermore, they shall conduct a pilot study monitoring the water quality and deduce strategies for an Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM).

Project start: September 2016
Project partners:
TU Dresden / Chair of Meteorology (Prof. Christian Bernhofer)
TU Dresden / Chair of Urban Water Management (Prof. Peter Krebs)
Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, Leipzig
Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow
Ukrainian Hydrometeorological Institute

“Error Bounds, Critical Solutions and Numerical Methods for Smooth and Non-smooth Optimisation and Equilibrium Problems” (Prof. Andreas Fischer, Chair of Numerical Optimisation)
The research project belongs to the field of mathematical optimisation. It addresses challenging theoretical questions and, related to this, the design of efficient algorithms for the solution of optimisation and equilibrium problems. The latter also covers models of non-cooperative games, which result from the boundedness of resources on the one hand and from the selfish behaviour of involved players on the other hand. Corresponding applications can be found in communications theory, computer science, economic sciences, and in environmental protection.

Project start: Summer 2016
Project partners:
TU Dresden, Chair of Numerical Optimisation (Prof. Andreas Fischer)
National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Kiev, Department of Nonsmooth Optimization (Dr. Petro Stetsyuk)
Peoples' Friendship University of Russia, Department of Nonlinear Analysis and Optimization, Moskau (Prof. Dr. Aram Arutyunov)
Lomonosov Moscow State University, Department of Operations Research (Prof. Dr. Alexey Izmailov)

“Investigation of the domain wall conductivity in uniaxial ferroelectrics” (Prof. Lukas M. Eng, Chair of Experimental Physics/ NanoOptics)
The recently discovered ability to purposely write and erase nanoscopic conductive channels, the so-called charged domain walls (CDWs), across wide-bandgap and uniaxial ferroelectric LiNbO₃ (LNO) single crystals, forms an emergent feature for novel nanoelectronic applications and devices. Such CDWs are exactly in the focus of the current project. We aim at establishing an in-depth understanding of those physico-chemical parameters that allow increasing and tuning this conductivity along CDWs. Hence, optimising the charge transport needs a twofold approach, with (a) improving the electron-hopping rate along charged domain walls for instance by doping domain walls within these single crystals, or (b) lowering the injection barrier at the interface between DWs and surface electrodes. Both aspects will be investigated under systematic variation of defect and doping concentration. Furthermore, the impact of the applied poling method on the form and electronic transport properties of CDWs in LNO will be investigated. Lastly, the concept of creating time-stable CDWs will be extended also to other uniaxial ferroelectrics, such as LiTaO₃ (LTO) and SrₓBa₁₋ₓNb₂O₆ (SBN).

Project start: Fall 2016
Project partners:
TU Dresden: Chair of Experimental Physics / NanoOptics (Prof. Dr. Lukas M. Eng)
Russia: partner RAS-R: Group of Prof. Liudmila I. Ivleva, A.M.Prokhorov,
General Physics Institute Russian, Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia
Russia: partner KSU-R: Group of Dr. Oleg G. Sevostyanov,
Kemerovo State University, Kemerovo, Russia
Ukraine: partner NAS-U: Group of Dr. Mikhail Goulkov, Institute of Physics,
National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Kiev, Ukraine

The Volkswagen Foundation has approved another project of the Leibniz Institute for Solid State and Materials Research Dresden IFW, a DRESDEN-concept partner of TU Dresden:  "Synthesis, theoretical examination and experimental investigation of emergent iron-based superconductors" (Dr. Dmitry Efremov).

Further information about the Volkswagen Foundation’s funding programme “Trilateral Partnerships” is available here: https://www.volkswagenstiftung.de/en/funding/completed-initiatives/call-trilateral-partnerships.html

Media Inquiries:
Dr. Marina Scharlaj (Slavonic Studies)
Tel.: +49 (0) 351 463-36181

Prof. Christian Bernhofer (Meteorology)
Tel.: +49 351 463-31340

Prof. Andreas Fischer (Numerical Optimisation)
Tel.: +49 351 463-34148

Prof. Lukas Eng (Photophysics/NanoOptics)
Tel.: +49 351 463-33427