Innovative ideas for people and the natural world

group picture of all participants and members of the jury — Participants and members of the jury at this year's Falling Walls Lab at FAU (Image: FAU/Harald Sippel)

The winners of the Falling Walls Lab at FAU

August 27, 2018

The Falling Walls Lab was held for the first time at FAU in July – a competition aimed at promoting the ideas of students and young researchers on both a national and international level. 13 students and researchers from various universities and industry presented their groundbreaking projects to an expert jury, hoping for a chance to participate in the international Falling Walls Lab final in Berlin. A cross-section of all topics relevant to people and the natural world was presented, with suggested solutions ranging from such diverse areas as peace and conflict research, medicinal uses for spider’s silk or block chain technologies.

Joint picture with the three winners — The winners of the Falling Walls Lab: Fadli Fadli (centre) from the University of Bonn won 1st place with his project ‘Breaking the Wall of Sanitation and Waste Treatment’ and can now take part in the international Falling Walls Lab final in Berlin in November. Amir Abbas Yousefi Amin (left) and Christian Aljoscha Lukas (right), both doctoral candidates at FAU, were awarded the second and third prize respectively for their project ideas ‘Breaking the Wall of Food Fraud Detection’ and ‘Breaking the Wall of Mental Disorders’. (Image: FAU/Harald Sippel)

Photo gallery

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Falling Walls Lab
Prof. Dr. Kathrin Möslein, FAU Vice President Outreach, welcomes participants to the Falling Walls Lab. It gives them a stage to present their research projects, ideas and social initiatives. Representatives of FAU, other universities and reputable companies decide who is to be awarded first prize and win the chance to take part in the global Falling Walls Lab final in Berlin. (Image: FAU/Harald Sippel)
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Falling Walls Lab
The chairperson for the jury, Prof. Dr. Svenja Hagenhoff of the Institute of Book Studies, in particular e-publishing and digital markets at FAU (fourth from left), together with Jürgen Wölfl from ProLeiT AG, Dr. Claudia Lehmann from the Center for Leading Innovation & Cooperation, Prof. Dr. Sean Patrick Saßmannshausen from Ostbayerische Technische Hochschule Regensburg, Dr. Janina Beilner from Siemens Healthineers and Prof. Dr. Jürgen Klein from Hochschule Lübeck. (Image: FAU/Harald Sippel)
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Falling Walls Lab
The jury was faced with a difficult decision. 13 students and young researchers from various universities and industry all presented innovative research projects. Christian Aljoscha Lukas from FAU presents his project 'Breaking the Wall of Mental Disorders'. (Image: FAU/Harald Sippel)
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Falling Walls Lab
Participants had to present their ideas within three minutes and on three slides. All subject areas were represented – business-related topics such as the research idea 'Breaking the Wall of Complexity in Industry 4.0' from Sascha Julian Oks from FAU ... (Image: FAU/Harald Sippel)
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Falling Walls Lab
... as well as medical, technical or humanities topics such as the research project 'Breaking the Wall of Religious Prejudices' from Sophie Wittmann, also FAU. (Image: FAU/Harald Sippel)
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Falling Walls Lab
The Falling Walls Lab was also a great opportunity for networking. Students and young researchers shared their views with other people with similar research interests: Sophie Wittman from FAU, Sofia Saleem from the University of Erfurt and Sarai Krayem from Humboldt Universität in Berlin (from left). (Image: FAU/Harald Sippel)
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Falling Walls Lab
Prof. Dr. Svenja Hagenhoff, chairperson of the jury, presents Fadli Fadli the certificate for first place. He succeeded in finding an affordable alternative for combating the problem of sanitation and waste disposal in developing and newly industrialised countries: composting faecal matter and organic waste creates biological warmth which kills pathogens and bacteria. What is left is compost with valuable nutrients which encourage plant growth. This provides those responsible for sanitation facilities with a practical, efficient and affordable solution for disposing of waste which benefits everyone – people and the natural world alike. (Image: FAU/Harald Sippel)
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Falling Walls Lab
Amir Abbas Yousefi Amin, research associate at the Chair of Materials Science at FAU, gained second place for his research project 'Breaking the Wall of Food Fraud Detection'. Food fraud is common in today's globally connected world, for example with prohibited substances being added or ingredients deliberately listed incorrectly. Innovative infrared detectors can be used in future to bring fraud such as this to light. The manner in which material reacts to infrared gives information about the ingredients, nutritional value or any harmful substances it may contain. (Image: FAU/Harald Sippel)
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Falling Walls Lab
The third prize was won by Christian Aljoscha Lukas, research associate at the Chair of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy at FAU, whose project 'Breaking the Wall of Mental Disorders' is aimed at helping those with mental disorders. 17 percent of the population throughout the world suffer from depression, anxiety disorders or excessive consumption of alcohol. However, treatment options available at present are expensive and entail long waiting periods. In order to tackle this problem, he developed a programme for smart phones which people can use to access help quickly and easily, even without being in therapy. (Image: FAU/Harald Sippel)
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Falling Walls Lab
Students and researchers from the following universities and companies took part in the competition: FAU, University of Erfurt, Heinrich-Heine Universität Düsseldorf, Humboldt Universität Berlin, Georg-August Universität Göttingen, University of Bonn and 3smiles Event & Marketing agency (Image: FAU/Harald Sippel)