Press release, 10. August 2009

German Federal Research Minister Schavan awards environmental technology prize “Green Talents” to 15 young scientists

They are the first “Green Talents”: Juliana Aristéia de Lima and Zhou Minghua can now refer to themselves as “Green Talents”. Along with other young scientists from across the world, the two researchers have won the Environmental Technology Competition “Green Talents” of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).

The competition took place for the first time this year and set out to find outstanding scientific talents in the field of environmental technology. The winning scientists were selected because their research is making a long-term contribution to resolving global challenges such as climate change, diminishing energy resources and large-scale environmental pollution.

A jury of renowned German experts selected a total of 15 winners, who will be invited to a one-week science forum in Germany at the end of August.

Dr Aristéia de Lima is based in Brazil and works on the development of biopolymers as an alternative to conventional plastics. Professor Zhou works in China and holds more than 15 patents. Among other topics, he is investigating the use of wastewater for power generation. The two researchers were among the 156 young scientists from 43 different countries who applied for one of the 15 places.

"We are delighted to have received so many outstanding applications from around the world. This response reflects the great international interest in Germany as an environmental technology location. With the ‘Green Talents’ competition, we can help ensure that promising new environmental technologies are deployed more quickly”, said Federal Research Minister Annette Schavan, patron of the “Green Talents” competition. “This competition is all about taking on joint responsibility for our future.”

Germany is one of the world‘s leading environmental technology locations. In early September, the “Green Talents” will visit German universities, research institutes and companies and get to know exemplary projects from different fields of technology. The week will end with a symposium at which the “Green Talents” will meet young German scientists. Jury member Professor Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, Director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and Chairman of the German Advisory Council on Global Change (WBGU), said: “The innovative spirit of young scientists is a basic prerequisite for the Third Industrial Revolution, which we are about to face. If we want to meet this challenge successfully, we need all the fresh ideas we can get.”

The winners of “Green Talents – The International Forum for High Potentials in Green Technologies":

• (Ms) Juliana ARISTÉIA DE LIMA, Ph.D., State University of Campinas, Brazil
  Research focus: Sustainable management in the chemical industry
• (Mr) Akintunde BABATUNDE, Ph.D. (Nigeria), University College Dublin, Ireland
  Research focus: Wastewater treatment
• (Ms) Saumita BANERJEE, M.E., National Environmental Engineering Research Institute Nagpur, India
  Research focus: Biotechnology for the use of biomass as a renewable energy source
• (Mr) Antonio Carlos CAETANO DE SOUZA, M.A., São Paulo State University, Brazil
  Research focus: Fuel cells and the use of biomass as a renewable energy source
• (Mr) Nuwong CHOLLACOOP, Ph.D., National Metal and Materials Technology Center, Thailand
  Research focus: Biofuels
• (Mr) Caetano DOREA, Ph.D. (Brazil), University of Glasgow, UK
  Research focus: Water and environmental engineering
• (Ms) Natalia Konstantinovna FISHER, Dipl. Ing., Russian Academy of Sciences, Russia
  Research focus: Treatment of groundwater and untreated water
• (Mr) Kerem GÜNGÖR, Ph.D., Abant Izzet Baysal University, Turkey / University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA
  Research focus: Biological systems engineering
• (Mr) MA Xingmao, Ph.D. (China), Southern Illinois University Carbondale, USA
  Research focus: Remediation in the context of bio- and nanotechnology
• (Mr) Carlos Alberto MARTÍNEZ-HUITLE, Ph.D. (Mexico), Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil
  Research focus: Wastewater treatment and electrochemistry
• (Mr) Aluwani NEMUKULA, Ph.D., Durban University of Technology, South Africa
  Research focus: Use of biomass as a renewable energy source
• (Mr) Nihar Ranjan SAMAL, Ph.D., National Institute of Technology Durgapur, India
  Research focus: Water and wastewater treatment
• (Ms) Sharifah Rafidah Binti WAN ALWI, Ph.D., Technological University of Malaysia
  Research focus: System analysis
• (Mr) YANG Bo, Ph.D., Shenzhen University, China
  Research focus: Water technologies
• (Mr) ZHOU Minghua, Ph.D., Nankai University, China
  Research focus: Water and environmental engineering

The members of the “Green Talents” jury:

Professor Martin Faulstich
Professor Faulstich heads the Institute of Resource and Energy Technology at the Technical University of Munich and is the Chairman of the German Advisory Council on the Environment.

Professor Thomas Hirth
Professor Hirth is head of the Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology (IGB) in Stuttgart as well as of the Institute for Interfacial Process Engineering (IGVT) of the University of Stuttgart.

Professor Beate Jessel
Professor Jessel is President of the German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation, the central scientific authority of the German Federal Government for both national and international nature conservation.

Professor Jürgen Mlynek
Professor Mlynek is President of the Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres. He is a Leibniz Award winner and was President of the Humboldt University in Berlin from 2000 to 2005.

Professor Hermann Requardt
Professor Requardt has been a member of the Managing Board of Siemens AG since 2006. He holds an honorary professorship at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University of Frankfurt.

Professor Hans Joachim Schellnhuber
Professor Schellnhuber is Director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and Chairman of the German Advisory Council on Global Change (WBGU).
Further information about the competition is available online at: http://www.research-in-germany.de/greentalents