EU funding for two CUI research groups

3 June 2025

Photo: privat/DESY

Prof. Carmen Herrmann (left) and cluster spokesperson Prof. Francesca Calegari are part of TRILOGY.

Two research groups from the Cluster of Excellence "CUI: Advanced Imaging of Matter" can look forward to receiving support for their working groups. The teams led by cluster spokesperson Prof. Francesca Calegari and Prof. Carmen Herrmann will receive funding to train two PhD students as part of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Innovative Training Network “Ultrafast Chirality for Life and Technology“- TRILOGY.

The European Commission's Marie Skłodowska-Curie ITNs promote highly competitive, collaborative research and training programs aimed at close cooperation between universities, research institutions, companies and other stakeholders in society from different countries in Europe and beyond. The TRILOGY network, of which Calegari and Herrmann are members, is led by Prof. Olga Smirnova, Head of the Strong-field Theory Group at the Max Born Institute in Berlin and Professor of Physics at the Technical University of Berlin. In 2022, Prof. Smirnova was awarded the Senior Prize of the Cluster’s Mildred Dresselhaus Guest Professorship Program.

"We are very happy that TRILOGY has been selected for funding," says Calegari, who is a lead scientist at DESY and a professor of physics at the University of Hamburg. "On the one hand, it gives us the opportunity to train excellent young people, on the other hand it allows us to continue working on the exciting topic of chirality, which is central also in the next funding period of our Cluster of Excellence CUI: Advanced Imaging of Matter."

The aim of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions is to promote excellence in research and innovation and to provide researchers at all stages of their careers with new knowledge and skills by enabling them to move across borders and gain insights into different fields and disciplines. The actions aim to train highly qualified doctoral researchers, to foster their creativity, to improve their capacity for innovation and to enhance their long-term employability. The new PhD students will be working very closely with scientists from the Cluster of Excellence CUI: Advanced Imaging of Matter.