Festive kick-off

With former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder as keynote speaker, the University of Oldenburg and the Universitätsgesellschaft Oldenburg e.V. (UGO) opened the academic year for the first time in a joint event. In his lecture, Schröder spoke to around 800 guests from the city, region and university about "Political Challenges and Perspectives for Europe". Gerhard Schröder has already been a guest at the University of Oldenburg on several occasions - as SPD parliamentary party leader in the state parliament and as Minister President of Lower Saxony. In 1991, his government presented a bill that received broad support in the state parliament for the University of Oldenburg to be named after Carl von Ossietzky. "Since my time as Minister President of the state of Lower Saxony, I have had very close ties with this university - especially with the naming," emphasised Schröder in his speech in the packed Audimax. At the time, he said, he thought it was a mistake that all the state governments of Lower Saxony had refused to name Oldenburg's young university after Carl von Ossietzky. Honourable memory "When I became Minister President in 1990, one of my first official acts was to put an end to this situation. I can still remember the official ceremony on 3 October 1991, when the university was officially named in the presence of Carl von Ossietzky's daughter. This meant that - it has to be said: finally - this courageous man was honoured with a worthy memory. But the university's almost two-decade-long battle for this name was also successfully concluded," said Schröder. "With today's opening ceremony, we are also drawing attention to the development that our university has undergone since its foundation 44 years ago: towards a university with a critical spirit and innovative science that is a driving force of society in the north-west," explained University President Prof Dr Dr Hans Michael Piper in his address. In his speech, the Chair of the University Society, Prof Dr Werner Brinker, emphasised the great importance of science and research for a successful economy. "This makes it all the more important to intensify the exchange of ideas between university and business. The UGO wants to play its part in this," said Brinker. Excellent research As part of the event, the UGO honoured social scientist Prof Dr Jannika Mattes with the "Prize for Excellent Research 2017", which is endowed with 5,000 euros. Physicist Dr Sebastian Wilken received the "Prize for Outstanding Doctorate 2017", endowed with 2,000 euros, as a young researcher. Jannika Mattes, who has been a junior professor for the sociology of European societies at the University of Oldenburg since 2011, is investigating the question of how innovations are created. Among other things, she analyses how knowledge from different disciplines and locations is combined in international companies to create a new product. The 36-year-old also researches regional restructuring processes, i.e. how large organisations with established structures and many stakeholders change - for example, when an entire region switches its energy generation to wind energy across the board. Mattes studied "European Economics" at the University of Bamberg. She has been teaching and researching at the University of Oldenburg since October 2007. Outstanding doctorate
Sebastian Wilken completed his doctorate in Prof Dr Jürgen Parisi's working group with a thesis on organic photovoltaics. The 32-year-old focussed on the elementary processes in solar cells, which are based on electrically conductive hydrocarbons and can therefore be produced cost-effectively and energy-efficiently. However, their exact mode of action is still not fully understood. Wilken investigated this by combining microscopic and macroscopic measurement methods. This innovative approach contributes to a better understanding of how organic solar cells work. Wilken studied physics at the University of Oldenburg, where he completed his doctorate at the end of 2016. The evening's musical programme was provided by students from the Institute of Music under the direction of musicians and lecturers Peter Janßen and Axel Fries. The programme included excerpts from the current revue "ESC-APE". The festive event ended with a reception in the foyer of the lecture theatre centre. Young entrepreneurs also presented their business ideas here.