SHAPING the ENERGY TRANSITION MAIN TOPIC Editorial
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2019/20 Issue AUSGABE 2019/20 THE UNIVERSITY OF OLDENBURG’S RESEARCH MAGAZINE FORSCHUNGSMAGAZIN 6464 SHAPING THE ENERGY TRANSITION MAIN TOPIC Editorial Dear readers, 2011 was the year of the nuclear di- Years later it is lagging behind: in mense challenges. And yet the energy saster in Fukushima. In Germany it the 2018 global Energy Transition In- transition, the task of the century, is marked the beginning of a new era. On dex of the World Economic Forum, well underway. Many green techno- 9 June 2011, three months after a severe Germany landed in sixteenth position. logies are already competitive, and in- earthquake hit the east coast of Japan, And it was only with great difficulty novative solutions are just waiting to triggering the tsunami that caused the that the current grand coalition go- be implemented. core meltdown in three reactor blocks vernment was able to pass its “Climate at the nuclear power plant Fukushima Protection Programme 2030”. The plan Oldenburg researchers are also bus- I, Chancellor Angela Merkel announ- envisages a price tag for polluting CO2 ily researching topics related to the ced Germany’s new “path to the energy emissions, subsidy schemes and, as its energy transition. In this issue of EIN- of the future” in her government policy key element, the “constant and reliable BLICKE we introduce a few examples: statement. expansion of renewables.” For most ex- from energy informatics, wind physics perts, the plan does not go far enough: and energy meteorology to economic The key points of the plan: nucle- the carbon pricing policy is ineffective, policy, sustainable production, inno- ar power usage was to be phased out the expansion of wind energy across vation sociology and sustainability in Germany by 2022 and renewables the country is being hindered more research. were to become the central pillar of the than helped, and the quest to achieve country’s future energy supply. The fe- the CO2 reduction targets by 2030 is We wish you a stimulating read of the- deral government’s ad-hoc legislation doomed to fail, critics say. se and the many other articles in this was met with astonishment and then magazine. considerable respect – in particular The current state of affairs shows at the international level. Germany that the eco-friendly restructuring of was seen as a trailblazer for the green the energy system impacts society as Yours truly, energy transition. a whole and presents politics with im- the EINBLICKE editorial team 2 EINBLICKE 2019/20 3 Contents 8 16 20 36 What makes pupils stay away from school The cornea: the eye’s windscreen Time for the electricity grid to get smart How bacterial cells work – proteins in focus 3 EDITORIAL Cover Story: 32 SOCIETY 44 HISTORY OF IDEAS Shaping the Energy Transition Power to the people Disenchanted world The energy transition is the challenge of the Philosopher and Jaspers expert Matthias Bormuth 7 IN NUMBERS 20 INFRASTRUCTURE century. Its success depends on numerous social is giving food for thought with a new collection International campus The grid is key factors, which Oldenburg researchers across the of letters marking the fiftieth anniversary of World Congress on Undergraduate Priming the German electricity grid for the disciplines are investigating Karl Jaspers’ death Research in Oldenburg energy transition – an interview with energy informatics researcher Sebastian Lehnhoff 36 IN PICTURES 46 UGO NEWS 8 SCHOOL ABSENTEEISM Microbes under the microscope A question of perspective 24 RESOURCES What tools do bacteria use to break down Special needs educationalist Heinrich Ricking Understanding the wind organic pollutants? Microbiologist Ralf Rabus 47 NEW APPOINTMENTS investigates why parents keep their children The wind is an unpredictable resource. and his team take a closer look away from school Turbulence researcher Joachim Peinke and energy meteorologist Detlev Heinemann are working 55 DOCTORATES to better understand it and harness its power 40 TEACHER TRAINING 12 IN BRIEF Language-sensitive teaching and learning How does language help or hinder learning 59 HABILITATIONS / IMPRINT 29 REGULATION in schools? An overview of current projects in 16 OPHTHALMOLOGY The energy calculator teacher-training research Keeping an eye on things If the power supply in Germany is to become Stefan Schrader and Sonja Mertsch more environmentally friendly, radical economic are taking new approaches to treating measures are needed. The economist diseases of the ocular surface Christoph Böhringer simulates their effects 4 EINBLICKE 2019/20 5 In Numbers International campus Nations at the World Congress 35 on Undergraduate Reseach Hosting the world in Oldenburg: in spring 2019 students from 35 countries came together at the second “World Congress on Undergraduate Research” (World CUR) on Oldenburg University’s campus. Building on the success of the first World CUR in Doha (Qatar) three years ago, the number of participants in Olden- burg almost doubled. Around 450 students participated in the three- day congress and more than half of them presented the results of their research. Students re- ceived awards for the best oral and poster presentations, and participants seized on the op- portunity to debate and network – among them many young peo- ple from developing and emerging countries, whose participation was facilitated by the Ministry for Science and Culture of Lower Saxony. “With the World CUR we wanted to increase the visibility of undergraduate research. And we succeeded,” project manager Dr. Susanne Haber- stroh said. To be continued! 6 EINBLICKE 2019/20 7 SCHOOL ABSENTEEISM ports is on today's recently because hardly anyone could to understand what made them do timetable for the imagine how widespread it was. For a it," says Ricking. To some extent this pupils of the ninth long time, scientists simply assumed was the initial spark for a branch of grade. In the case of that parents would necessarily have a research that had hitherto been neg- 14-year-old Laura and her classmate strong interest in their children recei- lected in Germany, because until the SPia that means football – not exactly ving an education. "But in our studies early 2000s the topic of truancy was their favourite form of exercise. Fur- we have frequently talked to girls and more or less taboo. "Some schools clai- tively, they sneak out and meet with boys who mentioned that their pa- med they didn't have the problem at friends at a café instead. This little ex- rents didn't allow them to go to school," all, others blamed the parents. Who ploit, which would provoke a furious Ricking explains. According to his re- in turn blamed the schools," Ricking reaction from most parents, leaves search there can be many different recalls. Reason enough for Ricking, Prof. Dr. Heinrich Ricking of the De- reasons for this: some parents don't a teacher and researcher at the time, partment of Special Needs Education want their children to attend sex edu- to take a closer look at the situation. and Rehabilitation completely unfa- cation classes, or religion education, Published in 2003, his international re- zed: "We know that half of all lower or they are critical of the school system port "School absenteeism as a research secondary school pupils contemplate as a whole. Then there are those who topic" set the ball rolling in Germany's skipping classes for no good reason – claim they need their children's help educational landscape. Since then the and some of them will actually skip a at home, and others who simply don't perspective in education policy has couple of lessons. However, it's not the- care whether or not their children go to changed considerably. A key factor be- se pupils who give us a headache but school. "A panoply of motives," Ricking hind this change was the book "School A question the three to five percent who are ab- concludes. He and his colleagues at the Absenteeism and Drop-Out", written sent on a regular basis." Experts talk of Department of Special Needs Educati- by Ricking and two colleagues at the routine, chronic and habitual forms of on and Rehabilitation and the School of Department of Educational Sciences, school absenteeism. "There is a serious Educational Sciences have investigated Prof. Dr. Gisela Schulze and Prof. Dr. of perspective danger of dropout here, of these young these motives intensively over the past Manfred Wittrock. "Schools are finally people ending up socially margi- few years. The findings were published confronting the problem," Ricking says, nalised," Ricking explains. Studies in 2018 in a book titled "School Absen- adding that much has also changed at show that the life prospects of chronic teeism and Parents," a summary of the the institutional, legal and research truants are pretty grim: how do they international research. It is the only levels. "Only once a problem has been get ahead in life without so much as book dedicated solely to this subject in named can it be tackled and resolved," a school-leaving qualification? It be- Germany to date. Ricking published he stresses. comes difficult to integrate them into it together with Karsten Speck, Pro- Over the years, as this new openness working life, the probability of their fessor of Research Methods in Edu- has developed, the focus of Ricking's turning to crime increases, as does cational Science at the Department research has shifted. Whereas initially that of drug use, their health suffers of Educational Sciences. "We weren't he concentrated on the different types and their future opportunities are limi- able to answer all the questions, but of school absenteeism, nowadays he is ted. "This is why we need to see school we provided the stimulus for a more in- more preoccupied with intervention absenteeism not just in the context of tensive analysis of the role of parents," and prevention: what can schools acti- school but in the context of a whole Ricking says.