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05 / 12 · In Conversation
Research must get out of the lab
Vice-President Sabine Krüger and Master's student Mira Lindqvist in conversation: on applied research, students on projects and the path into the region.
Two perspectives
The Vice-President and the student
Sabine Krüger is responsible for research and transfer at Fernsee University. Mira Lindqvist is a Master's student and part of the KühlRaum research team. Both explain what research means in everyday life.
Prof. Dr. Sabine Krüger
Vice-President
Role
Research & Transfer
Mira Lindqvist
Master's student
Age
24 years
Degree programme
Environmental engineering
Project
KühlRaum: measuring rides and sensors
The conversation
Professor Krüger, what defines applied research?
Sabine Krüger: We start with a problem that someone outside the university has. And we only stop once the solution has reached them: on a street, in a surgery or in a business.
How early can students get involved in research?
Sabine Krüger: From the very beginning. One in two research projects at the university involves students. They are not spectators but part of the team.
Ms Lindqvist, what do you do in the KühlRaum project?
Mira Lindqvist: I'm responsible for the measuring rides and the sensors. In summer we cycled all across the city on a cargo bike and measured how hot it gets where.
What does it feel like when research is this close to everyday life?
Mira Lindqvist: Cycling through the city at three in the morning on a cargo bike – I had never seen Fernsee like that before. You realise that the numbers ultimately have something to do with the people who live there.
We don't do research for the bottom drawer, but for the next street corner.
The conversation continues
Professor Krüger, how does research get from the university into the region?
Sabine Krüger: Through partnerships. We work with 120 cooperation partners: cities, companies and institutions. They bring the questions, we bring the methods.
What do students take away from projects like these?
Sabine Krüger: Experience you can't get in the lecture hall alone. Anyone who works on a real project learns to talk to partners, meet deadlines and explain results so that someone can actually use them.
Ms Lindqvist, what happens after your Master's?
Mira Lindqvist: I can imagine two paths: a joint doctorate or a career in urban planning. Either way, I want to work where results are put into practice.
At a glance
Transfer in numbers
cooperation partners in the region
of research projects involve students
Fernsee University, the city of Fernsee, and all people, projects, companies and figures are fictional – this university magazine is a Novamag template.