Just how lively an exchange between students and young scientists can be is demonstrated each year at the IFF Spring School - an important event for communicating current issues in physics for more than 50 years now.
Organizers past and present celebrating the 50th anniversary of the IFF Spring School : (left to right) Barbara Daegener (2017-2020), Wilhelm Schmitz (1970-1990), Rainer Hölzle (1991-2011), Michael Beißel (2012-2016)Copyright: — Forschungszentrum Jülich
The IFF Spring Schools were first brought into being in 1970 by the “Institut für Festkörperforschung” (IFF). Since then, they have made it possible for students and young scientists to gain a two-week insight into a current topic related to condensed matter physics. Of the 200-300 students who attend the IFF Spring School each year, many return in years to follow and some even continue their research careers at Forschungszentrum Jülich.
In 2011, IFF was dissolved as part of a restructuring process within Forschungszentrum Jülich, and new institutes, namely the Peter Grünberg Institute (PGI), the Jülich Centre for Neutron Science (JCNS) and the Institute of Complex Systems (ICS) were established. Together with the Institute for Advanced Simulation (IAS), the institutes continue to coordinate the IFF Spring Schools.
Another great success has been the book of manuscripts from the Spring School lectures; this publication has proved very useful to students as it can be used as a textbook and it is often the first work of reference in a new research field.
