Two early career researchers at HU receive Emmy Noether funding from the German Research Foundation

Nakib Protik investigates the transport properties of materials, specifically, the strong drag physics; Stefanie Alisch explores sound systems for a new understanding of musicology.

Two new research groups have been established at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (HU), funded by the Emmy Noether Programme of the German Research Foundation (DFG).

"Dragonics" - Understanding and controlling drag physics

Predicting the heat and charge transport properties of materials is a long standing complex problem, both at the level of pen and paper theory and numerical simulation. However, it is well worth taking on this challenge. On the one hand, we stand to gain a tremendous amount of insight into the fundamental interactions involving the constituent particles that lead to the observed transport phenomena. And on the other hand, we gain the ability to identify promising materials for efficient power electronics, heat harvesting, and thermal management applications, among many others. The Dragonics project investigates the transport properties of materials where the charge (electrons and holes) and dominant heat carriers (phonons) strongly interact with each other. In such systems, the transport of one type of particles induces transport in the other, an effect known in the literature as "drag". It combines theoretical and computational approaches to study the drag behaviour in a variety of systems, deepening our understanding of this phenomenon. "The goal of the Dragonics project is to understand the conditions under which the strong drag physics emerges, paving the way to enable an unprecedented level of control over the transport properties of materials", says Dr. Nakib H. Protik, head of the newly established Theoretical Transport Physics (T2P) group at the Department of Physics of Humboldt-Universität. The project will receive a funding of nearly 1.8 million euros for 6 years. 

Sound System Epistemologies - Sound systems as a form of musical performance

The interdisciplinary research group "Sound System Epistemologies: Knowledge engendered through Practice" (SSE) theorizes the sound system as a form of musical performance and thus develops a new musicological model. The project explores types of popular music, in which speaker towers, DJs and dancing audiences play an important role. The focus is on the music genres Kuduro and Afrohouse from Lisbon, Acid House, FreeTek as well as queer sound systems from London and female German rap. The researchers address the question of how masculinity and knowledge production co-produce each other through sound system practice. During the final year, the research group and Mercator Fellow Prof. em. Carolyn Cooper from Jamaica develop a sound system exhibition for the Musikinstrumenten-Museum Berlin. SSE is the first project in the field of sound system studies to be based in Germany. "SSE aims to transcend the false dichotomy of live music and recorded music. The project breaks new ground in masculinity research and enriches music research by documenting little-studied repertoires," says musicologist and head of the research group Dr. Stefanie Alisch from the Institute of Musicology and Media Studies at Humboldt-Universität. The funding amount for 6 years is 1.5 million euros.

Further

Link to the research group