The BIG-NSE was one of the highlights of the original UniCat concept. The top-class research in catalysis performed at the Cluster of Excellence covered a broad range of topics, from natural sciences to engineering. The success of this research program, the only of its kind in Germany, required highly qualified and motivated young researchers in the different projects.
With the founding of the BIG-NSE, UniCat aimed at recruiting the most gifted students and young researchers in the world and offering them a broad, high-level structured educational program in order to prepare them for the highly specialized research performed at the cluster.
The mission of the BIG-NSE, which is now integrated into the "Einstein Center of Catalysis" (EC2) and therefore called EC2/BIG-NSE, is to provide an intellectual home and an integrated platform for the education and research activities of young scientists. In doing so, the center/school's main priority is to promote interrelations and interconnections between the different parts of UniSysCat (the follow-up Cluster of Excellence of UniCat) by establishing a common language between the different disciplines, in order to overcome communication barriers between them.
The goals of EC2/BIG-NSE include providing an institutional framework that:
- facilitates and fosters the scientific integration of young researchers within the UniSysCat Cluster,
- provides an educational program to ensure state-of-the-art training of the students,
- provides transparent mechanisms for recruiting the most talented graduate students,
- meets the administrative requirements of the participating students and supervisors.
Read more about the organization and framework, the curriculum, and the recruitment philosophy of EC2/BIG-NSE on the corresponding pages.
