Ellen Backus speaks at the Annual Meeting of New Champions at the 2015 World Economic Forum

Mainz/Dalian. Dr. Ellen Backus, Group Leader at the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research in Mainz, Germany, has been invited by the European Research Council (ERC) to take part in the Annual Meeting of the New Champions (AMNC) at the World Economic Forum meeting in Dalian, China, from September 9 to 11. With four other ERC grant winners, she will share her cutting-edge research and address the question of the energy sources of tomorrow in the ERC Ideas Lab session taking place on Friday, September 11.

In her ERC-funded project "Fundamentals of photocatalytic splitting of water", Ellen Backus is investigating how water can be split into oxygen and hydrogen using sunlight, and how this process can be designed to be more efficient. Fundamental insights into water splitting technologies will sustain long-term innovation in the challenging field of alternative energy sources.

The AMNC, dubbed "Summer Davos", provides a platform for emerging leaders, young researchers and entrepreneurs from around the world to engage with leading figures from industry, politics and science, and to discuss global challenges.