Our Voyage of Scientific Discovery

Beginning in Kiel, Germany, the 4-week Science Sets Sail voyage gets underway following the arrival of FAU moderators, and teams representing the University’s Institute for Factory Automation and Production Systems (FAPS), Centre for Human Rights Erlangen-Nürnberg (CHREN), and GeoZentrum Nordbayern (GZN) – not forgetting invited guest researchers from the Baltic Sea region! During this leg, the ship stops at Malmö, Sweden (Open Ship Day on 18 July), and says goodbye to these first crews at Riga, Latvia (Open Ship Day on 24 July).

In each port, local business and academic institutions, not to mention interested members of the public, are invited to an ‘Open Ship Day’ at the dockside and on board the Thor Heyerdahl. After the second of these in Riga, three fresh teams representing researchers and guests join the ship for leg two of the voyage. These are Graduate School in Advanced Optical Technologies (SAOT), Erlangen Nürnberg Excellence Track – Leistungszentrum Elektroniksysteme (ENETLZE), and the Chair of Economics – Discrete Optimization – Mathematics (EDOM). On this leg, the ship calls in at Helsinki, Finland (Open Ship Day on 29 July) and Tallinn, Estonia (Open Ship Day on 1 August).

Now comes the turn of researchers and guests of the Engineering of Advanced Materials (EAM) Cluster of Excellence, Department of Chemistry and Pharmacy, and the Medical Faculty. Boarding in Tallinn, these new crews have plenty of opportunity to discuss collaboration projects and exchange ideas. During leg three, the ship calls in at Danzig, Poland (Open Ship Day on 7 August) (update 6 August: cancelled) and lands at its final port of Rostock, Germany on Friday 11 August.