DRESDEN-concept Summer Schools

Join an international Circular Design Challenge in Pillnitz Palace in Germany!

Circular Design Challenge will take place in Pillnitz, Dresden from 27 May to 4 June 2023. It is organised by a multi-disciplinary team of researchers from the TU Dresden and Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden in collaboration with TU Delft and ICN Creative Business School. This 9-day program will provide the latest insights, tools and methods for circular design in the fields of construction and product design and guide you in conception of innovative solutions for reuse of end-of-life components.

What can you expect?

In a series of short lectures, experts will lay out the basic concepts of circular economy and systemic design. Invited guest speakers will share inspiring examples from practice and display current tendencies in transition towards circular economy. In a dynamic mix of theory and practice, you will be introduced to tools and methods for sustainable circular design and apply them to develop own solutions based on two case studies presented on site: end-of-life transportation vehicles and a factory building. In a brainstorming session, you will be assisted in conceiving innovative reuse solutions for the components of the two case studies. The ideas will be evaluated through peer and expert feedback. The best will be advanced through a multidisciplinary group work in a series of workshops. The Circular Design Challenge will end with a public presentation of the results and awarding the winning project of the CDC 2023!

Why you should join the Circular Design Challenge?

1. Gain knowledge on key aspects of circular economy and specific appplication in industrial design, architecture and civil engineering
2. Discover existing practices and research projects focused on material and component reuse in construction and product design
3. Acquire tools and methods for circular design and life-cycle assessment
4. Conceptualise innovative reuse solutions based on two case studies — end-of-life parts from transport and a building — in a series of guided workshops
5. Explore a multi-disciplinary collaborative design approach with experts and students from industrial design, civil engineering and architecture

The event will be hosted by SKD Design Campus, located in the Pillnitz Palace & Park. The palace and the gardens have provided inspiration for writers, artists, thinkers, and musicians throughout history and, around 1900, became a hotspot for scientific innovation. During the CDC, you will be guided through the grounds of the park and the palace and the The Kunstgewerbemuseum/Museum of Decorative Arts. The lectures and workshops will take place in the Palace. Excursions are planned to the case study sites and the testing laboratories of the TU Dresden.

Applications
will be accepted until April 3rd. The Circular Design Challenge targets Master students and early PhD students from the fields of architecture, civil engineering, human-centred and engineering design as well as cognate disciplines who are eager to learn about and engage in sustainable circular design. To apply for the event the following documents need to be provided by email to cdc@tu-dresden.de.

• cover letter motivating your participation in the Circular Design Challenge (maximum 1 page)
• short CV with list of relevant recent projects or publications (if any)
• optional application for travel grant (demonstrate the need on 1 page)

The participating students will be selected from the applications as soon as the application period ends and be informed about the decision shortly afterwards. Participation fee is € 150 and due two weeks after notice of acceptance. This fee covers participation, accommodation in student housing double rooms, catering and all workshop materials.

Questions?
Please ask your questions at cdc@tu-dresden.de

Refined over millions of years of evolution, biological materials such as bone, wood and shells are of spectacular beauty and teach us the principles of material design and synthesis. Biological materials are inherently multifunctional and display diverse material properties that we cannot yet reproduce by synthetic routes. They are often composed of a remarkable small number of simple building blocks which are hierarchically structured. The function and properties of biogenic materials depend on the controlled organization of those building blocks at multiple scales which is brought about by the action of the organism’s processing machinery. Understanding the design and production of biological materials (learning from nature) is pivotal to develop new fabrication strategies for the manufacturing of advanced materials with structure and properties mimicking biogenic materials with high precision.

This DIGS-BB Summer School, primarily aimed at Master’s and advanced Bachelor’s students, brings together local experts from the PoL, CRTD, BIOTEC, B CUBE, Faculty of Biology, and MPI-CBG with external renowned scientists in the field of biomaterial research and interested students. The school will consist of scientific talks, methods lectures and hands-on sessions in participating labs. The 5-day program includes ample time for stimulating discussion and social activities, and is tailored to foster interdisciplinary collaboration which is a hallmark of the Dresden Science and Innovation campus.

In this summer school, which will focus on how organisms control and tune their properties, you will learn about the fundamental principles underlying the formation of diverse biological materials and you will be introduced to many advanced tools used to investigate them. Moreover, the school will provide insight on how the architecture and hierarchical organization of biological materials can inspire the design of novel and sustainable materials.

Application
will open on 27 March 2023
will close on 16 June 2023
Notification of Acceptance: End of July

Monday 22.08.2022 – Thursday 25.08.2022
an International Summer School
organized by the Dresden Center for Intelligent Materials (DCIM).
Venue: Technische Sammlungen Dresden (TSD)

Innovative materials are one of the key technologies for keeping products and industrial processes economically competitive and ecologically sustainable. Modern materials science requires a multi-discipline approach embracing chemistry, physics, engineering, as well as data science.

The DRESDEN-concept Summer School Dimensions of Intelligence in Materials 2022 was held fromAugust 22 to 25, 2022, in Dresden. In the 4 days of the event, the different aspects of materials that are called “intelligent” werde shown: These materials may be performing intrinsic computations, they may self-assemble, they may, for example, have sensor and actuator capabilities, or they may be parts of larger systems to enhance functionality.

Monday 03.10.2022 – Friday 07.10.2022
Venue: MPI-CBG

Summary: This full-time, 5 day course was open to members of our community from all levels, and involved hands-on exploration of using physical and mathematical arguments in the life sciences.

Detailed Information: In this intensive week-long mini-course aimed at life scientists interested in the quantitative analysis of living matter, we explored the way that physical and mathematical models can be used to understand biological systems. The course began by examining the way in which simple order-of- magnitude estimates can provide insights into problems ranging from the fidelity of protein translation to how amphibians arrive on oceanic islands. This was followed by an examination of diffusion as biology’s null hypothesis for dynamics through a suite of problems including ion channel dynamics, the dynamics of transcription, and the development of morphogen gradients. We then turned to the study of active matter and phase separation to explore organization in biological systems. In addition to these topics, the course involved integrated hands-on tutorials in biological model building on the computer using Python, where for nearly all the models done on the blackboard, we will build a corresponding computational description of the same problems. The focus of the course is not on any particular skill set, but rather to convey the style of using physical and mathematical arguments in the life sciences.

The 2^nd International Summer School “Human Rights in Theory and Practice” took place in Dresden and Online from September 5^th to 10^th, 2021 as a hybrid event.  The Summer School  focused on the topic of “The European Convention on Human Rights in Times of Crises” and explored various challenges and opportunities for the European Human Rights System arising out of situations of crisis. Themes such as emergency situations, populism, migration and the role of economic, social and cultural rights in the context of crisis were explored from an interdisciplinary perspective.

Once again, it was one of the Summer School’s special ingredients that speakers included both academics as well as practitioners, offering the unique opportunity to gain insights into current theoretical discussions as well as the everyday challenges of practicing law.

Mobility is in transition. Today’s mobility of people and goods is undergoing a fundamental and long-term change: While many countries worldwide shift away from the traditional car-friendly paradigm to promote sustainable transport such as cycling, walking, and public transport, there is also a push towards the electrification of motorized vehicles and the search for alternative engine technologies across the automotive industry. Which challenges stem from the mobility transition? Which disruptive technologies and innovations drive the mobility transition? Which technological and societal solutions on an international scale should be pursued to foster the mobility transition? Join us from the 20th to the 21st of July, 2021, for the Boysen-TU Dresden Summer School 2021 to find out more about ‘Mobility in Transition’ and interdisciplinary facets of this global socio-technical transition.