Four New Virtual Institutes Under the Overall Coordination of DESY

Developing new methods for the investigation of materials with synchrotron radiation, studying the effect of intense flashes of X-ray radiation on single atoms, exploring the properties of plasmas, or investigating the interplay between particle physics and cosmology – these are the objectives of four "Virtual Institutes" coordinated by the DESY research center in Hamburg. By founding these institutes, which are run jointly by different centers of the Helmholtz Association as well as universities, the participating institutions intend to pool their know-how and focus their activities in these areas. With the funding of the fourth project approved in early June, all four projects coordinated by DESY have now been positively evaluated by the Helmholtz Association. They are to receive 720 000 Euro each spread over a period of three years from the "Impuls- und Vernetzungsfonds" – the "Initiative and Networking Fund" – of the Helmholtz Association.