TU Ilmenau - UniOnline: Turning questions into answers: Young researchers present ideas for a better world

3. March 2025

Whether producing a bioplastic, investigating methods for water treatment in East Africa or developing an early warning system for safety and well-being in baby carriages: 67 young talents impressed with their ideas for solving social challenges and everyday problems at the West Thuringia regional competition of "Jugend forscht" at TU Ilmenau.

TU Ilmenau/Pavel Chatterjee

Children and young people immersed themselves in the exciting world of science at the regional competition of Germany's best-known young talent competition “Jugend forscht” at TU Ilmenau

"For 60 years, Jugend forscht has been best practice when it comes to getting young people interested in STEM subjects - more than 330,000 children and young people have taken part in the competition so far," explained Katarina Keck, Managing Director of the Jugend forscht e. V. foundation, in the run-up to the competition. TU Ilmenau and the company LINDIG Fördertechnik have also been sponsoring the event since 2013.

In the anniversary year of Germany's best-known competition for young scientists, a total of 73 children and young people from primary, secondary and grammar schools in Eisenach, Gotha, Ilmenau, Neudietendorf and Ruhla were encouraged to immerse themselves in the exciting world of science. Individually or in teams, they spent weeks or months preparing for the competition at the TU Ilmenau. On February 27, 2025, 67 of them presented their answers to self-selected research questions, many of which arose from their immediate environment, at the Technology and Start-up Center (TGZ): Can I charge my smartphone with my bicycle dynamo on the way to school? Is the school tablet a bacteria spinner? How can I grow vegetables in the cold winter months without using harmful pesticides? And under what conditions can photovoltaics also be used on churches?

"You've all won for me"

While the teenagers and young adults between the ages of 15 and 21 tackled these and other questions from the categories of the world of work, biology, chemistry, mathematics/computer science, physics and technology in "Jugend forscht", pupils aged 10 to 14 competed in the "Jugend forscht Junior" competition with their creative answers to questions from the world of work, biology, chemistry and technology. Among other things, the youngsters investigated the germination conditions of seed plants, the impact on human dental health, the contamination risks for people with coeliac disease in everyday life and presented their idea for a "solar bowl" to prevent water from freezing in drinking cups. A total of 33 projects came together.

"You are not only participants in the 'Jugend forscht' competition, but also the next generation of scientists," said Prof. Stefan Sinzinger, Vice President for Research and Young Scientists at TU Ilmenau, welcoming the young people before the award ceremony:

For me, you have all won: You have shown and proven that you are so enthusiastic about a subject that you are spending your time at TU Ilmenau this afternoon and do not see this as a break in your 'life balance'. Keep up this motivation and stay tuned!

Torben Licht, network coordinator of "Jugend Forscht" for North Rhine-Westphalia, Schleswig-Holstein and Thuringia, was also delighted with the lively participation and the many great research ideas. Dr. Uta Purgahn, head of the "Jugend forscht" state competition, thanked all participants and also encouraged them to keep at it. She wished those entering the state competition in April lots of fun with the remaining preparations and success in the final round.

Ideas and workshop for the further development of the projects

In the end, four projects were awarded 1st prize: Janina Leistritz from Year 11 at the Goethe School in Ilmenau worked on the dice game Tactix, which is played on a 9x9 board and is similar to chess. With the aim of developing a digital version of the analog game for two people or a computer as an opponent, she described the cube orientation and rotation mathematically and was honored for this special achievement.

Tobias Bürger and Hannes Wrana, twelfth-graders at the Goetheschule Ilmenau, were also delighted to receive first place: they were honored for their investigations into the physical properties of a material they produced themselves from bamboo and waste paper as a possible insulating material of the future.

In the technology category, Theo Bonsack from Albert-Schweitzer-Gymnasium in Ruhla was awarded first prize for his model of a rover that has the functions of a real Mars rover, including a camera, wheels driven individually by an electric motor and a small photovoltaic panel that supplies the vehicle with energy. In the future, he would like to develop his model even further. Among other things, it will be fitted with shock absorbers and a robotic arm to pick up stones. The student would also like to improve the range of the remote control.

Lea Gaurun and Paul Spencer-Buff, who have already completed their A-levels at the Goetheschule Ilmenau, worked on an alternative to existing ECG devices in the working world category in order to record the electrical voltage in the heart on the surface of the body without the usual cabling. To this end, they developed both hardware and software for a system that uses battery voltage as a reference for voltage measurement. The young people also want to further develop their "wEKG" by converting the system to battery operation and, among other things, reducing the weight of the modules they have developed. At a workshop on the day of the competition, the young people received valuable tips on how they can improve their projects before they can take part in the state competition in Jena on April 2.

Jerry Hofmann and Jos Heinemann from the Goetheschule Ilmenau will also be competing there, as they won the regional prize for the best interdisciplinary project for their project "Smart Waste: The answer to waste in the environment?". This is Jos's third time at "Jugend forscht". This time, he and his classmate worked on the question of how waste disposal in the Ilm district can be made more efficient in order to avoid unnecessary trips to remote waste containers. To this end, the young researchers developed a technology module that is inserted into the lids of the waste containers and enables the municipality to measure the fill level of the waste containers remotely. The young people have already tested their system in practice.

Knowledge and perspectives exchanged

"I was really pleased to see the hustle and bustle here at the TGZ today and the great and exciting projects," said Prof. Stefan Sinzinger, who was impressed by the young people's research:

It is very important that we think about how we develop regenerative energy, how we develop our health research in order to learn from it. But much more important than the topics you have worked on today is what I felt today: That you really did research, that you did science.

Because in order to gain knowledge, you have to be aware of the limitations of your own knowledge and share it with others, just as the young people did in the competition. He would also like to see this in a social context:

If I know that I don't know everything, then I know that the person I'm talking to might know something that I don't yet know, or at least has their own perspective on it.

In conclusion, Prof. Sinzinger thanked all those who had organized the competition and without whom the event would not have been possible: the sponsoring partners, teachers, jury members and many other helping hands.