The Umbrella cooperation established between Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, Forschungszentrum Jülich and RWTH Aachen University was signed on 29 April 1983. The partnership promotes scientific collaborations among the three institutions and includes the following activities:
- Umbrella Symposia (have been held almost annually since 1984), each year the location of the symposium rotates among the 3 institutions;
- Young Scientists Research Award (since 2018);
- Joint winter or summer schools for graduate students from Israel and Germany.
The prizes, worth €5,000 each, are given every year to outstanding researchers in the field covered by the symposium that year. The prizes are awarded since 2018, and are dedicated to furthering German-Israeli scientific cooperation. Each prize recipient presents his or her research at the symposium.
May 2023
Topic: "Life Science & Engineering: Data Analytics, Neuroscience & Multiscale Biomedical Engineering"
September 2024
Topic: "Advancing Energy Materials with State-of-the-Art Analytics and AI"
December 2025
Topic: "Advancing Energy Materials and Systems"
38th Umbrella Symposium (2025)
This year 38th Umbrella Symposium took place at RWTH Aachen University during December 2025 on the topic “Advancing Energy Materials and Systems”.
After the opening remarks on the first day, Umbrella Awards were conferred upon Dr. Sonja Mürtz, head of the Electrochemistry Group in Professor Regina Palkovits’s research team, Yufan Zhang, Institute of Energy Technologies, Forschungszentrum Jülich and Dr. Charlotte Vogt, Schulich Faculty of Chemistry, Technion – Israel Institute of Technology.
37th Umbrella Symposium (2024)
Last year, the 37th Umbrella Symposium took place at Forschungszentrum Jülich during September 2024 on the topic “Advancing Energy Materials with State-of-the-Art Analytics and AI”.
After the opening remarks on the first day, Umbrella Awards were conferred upon Razi Epsztein, Technion -Israel Institute of Technology (Targeting solute-specific selectivity in membrane separation), Weihan Li, RWTH Aachen University (Battery analysis with artificial intelligence) and Davis Thomas Daniel, Forschungszentrum Jülich (Enabling sustainable batteries: Insights from magnetic resonance spectroscopy and machine learning-driven simulations).
Electron Microscopy School (2024)
Electron Microscopy School at Forschungszentrum Jülich Research Center was held during the week of September 15-19 2024.
16 Technion graduate students together with a similar number of German students from Aachen University and Forschungszentrum Jülich Research Center participated in a series of lectures and seven different hands-on laboratory sessions.
36th Umbrella Symposium (2023)
The 36th Umbrella Symposium took place at the Technion on May 30 – June 1, 2023, on topic “Life Science & Engineering: Data Analytics, Neuroscience & Multiscale Biomedical Engineering”.
The prize awardees:
Roger Molto Pallares, RWTH Aachen University – “Manipulating f-element chemistry for healthcare applications”
Stefan Wiefels, Forschungszentrum Juelich – “Variability-Aware Characterization of Memristors for Neuromorphic Applications”
Arielle Fischer, Technion – “Wearable BioMonitoring: Integrating Motion and Biochemical Sensing”
