Rocks Making Waves
In an exciting development for 2024, our colleague Dr. Birte Seffert embarks on a nationwide tour to meet with the Klaus Tschira Boost Fund Fellows across Germany. The Keeping Up with the Boost Fellows series aims to shine a spotlight on the journeys, challenges, and achievements of our Fellows.
Today, we’re excited to introduce Dr. Maria-Elena Vorrath, a geoscientist and postdoc at the University of Hamburg and current Klaus Tschira Boost Fund Fellow. Visiting Elena, our colleague, Birte Seffert, gained valuable insights into industry cooperation and visibility and discovered exciting new opportunities arising from this.
But first things first: What is Elena´s research project all about?
She is conducting basic research to bring new solutions to the climate crisis by combining rock weathering and biochar for efficient carbon dioxide removal. Thus, she named her project Rockchar. The process is called co-pyrolysis, heating two or more materials without oxygen. This causes the materials to tranform into char without burning. Co-pyrolysis thus combines the benefits of both materials, creating a stable carbon-rich product (such as biochar) that can store carbon, boost soil health, enhance drought resilience, provide sustainable energy, and promote circular waste streams. This innovative approach could offer affordable, eco-friendly solutions for atmospheric CO₂ removal.
Building bridges to industry
Elena contacted companies to provide her with several kilos of free rock samples and liaisons with biochar companies, experiencing mostly positive responses and openness towards science and academia. What tips does she have for setting up successful industry cooperation?
Tips for successful industry cooperation
1. Proactively build connections by reaching out to existing contacts – either your own or those of people you know
2. Focus on what´s special about your project – and that your research will also examine potentials for commercial usability
3. Give something back: Offer to present your project in the company, report progress and results, tag partners in your LinkedIn posts
4. Get in touch with your institution´s press department and ask to include your project in their newsletter and press releases to extend your reach and visibility.
Spreading the word
Elena is committed to making her work accessible and impactful. Rockchar has its own LinkedIn account with over 600 followers, and Elena produces project-branded stickers to raise awareness. This visibility has opened new doors, with companies approaching her directly for consulting roles. Rockchar has become not only a research initiative but a platform for Elena to showcase her expertise.
Fostering future talent
Spreading the word means also supporting new talent and offering opportunities for students to join her. She notes:
»These students, will in the future work in research and industry.«
By bringing students into her project, she’s building future networks and fostering talent that will contribute to geoscience and beyond.
Opportunities & “side effects”
For Elena, one of the exciting aspects of research is discovering unexpected paths. With Rockchar, she’s found that the “side effects” of her work—like industry connections and applications beyond her original scope—can open new doors for economic and scientific collaboration. One such unexpected discovery and a side effect is her new project Superchar.
What are some of Elena´s learnings in bridging academia and industry?
1. If your research intends to bring solutions for real-world problems, writing scientific articles alone is not enough to get the message across to the relevant people.
2. Scientific compromises may apply to get a product off the ground, Elena says: “Our measurements in the lab are highly accurate, but for industry larger error ranges would also be acceptable.”
3. Industry acts much faster than academia – and sometimes you slow them down, by setting up lots of equipment, by doing preliminary studies etc. “I need to communicate that my invention is not a silver bullet but has certain limitations.”
4. It is important to understand how companies and the economy work – getting further education can be a good investment for that.
Elena concludes:
»Rockchar was a good practice for me – now I know what’s important in setting up this kind of project. The Klaus Tschira Boost Fund simply boosted things brilliantly! for me.«
We’re thrilled to watch Elena´s journey and look forward to the continued impact of her work!
The KT Boost Fund is a joint program of GSO and the Klaus Tschira Foundation for postdoctoral researchers in the Natural Sciences, Mathematics, and Computer Science. It offers flexible funding for risky and interdisciplinary research on the way to academic independence. Funding can be used to hire staff, buy equipment, or build collaborations – tailored to the research project.
