The e-conversion Cluster of Excellence is heading for its second funding period, which will run for the next seven years (2026 – 2032). We are delighted by this decision, announced on 22 May by the German Research Foundation (DFG) and the German Science and Humanities Council (Wissenschaftsrat). The funding will enable us to expand our investigation of the fundamental processes associated with converting and storing renewable energies, which form an important basis for the energy transition.

Copyright: Vera Hiendl/e-conversion, DOI: 10.1021/acs.chemrev.2c000

Since 2019, researchers in over 50 working groups at TUM, LMU Munich, and several Max Planck Institutes have been closely collaborating under the e-conversion umbrella. The approval of the second funding period reflects the success of these joint efforts and provides us with exciting new prospects for reaching the goals set out in our renewal application.

In addition to the two Munich universities, the Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research in Stuttgart and the Fritz Haber Institute in Berlin are on board again for the second funding period. Moreover, we will now team up with the Deutsches Museum as a participating institution, allowing us to further strengthen the Cluster’s public relations and outreach activities. The transition to the second funding period also marks a generational change at e-conversion. The Cluster, now named e-conversion 2.0, will be led by a team of four spokespersons. The designated spokespersons on the TUM side are Prof. Jennifer Rupp (Chemistry) and Prof. Ian Sharp (Physics). They are joined by Prof. Frédéric Laquai at LMU (Chemistry) and Prof. Bettina Lotsch at the Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research and Honorary Professor at the LMU.

All four agree: “We are proud of the exceptional e-conversion ecosystem that has evolved in the Munich area over the last seven years. With this success in the excellence strategy, we are confident that Munich continues to be a stronghold for interdisciplinary energy research – in Germany and internationally.”

We want to take this opportunity to thank everyone who contributed to the success of e-conversion 2.0 and whose feedback made such a successful presentation at the DFG possible.

Impressions from this special moment