Thermal No. 4 January 31, 2022

Germany
Member of ICHMT, AIHTC, EUROTHERM(1) Overview(Central European Time Zone, CET: UTC+1 (winter) and UTC+2 (summer), Population: 83.2 million)

Thermal No. 4 January 31, 2022
engineering subjects and educate their students more towards application-oriented professionals.
Universities address the full range of academic professions and educate their students more towards
science-oriented professionals.
The course programs are subdivided according to the Bachelor level and Master level. The Bachelor
degree typically needs 3 years of full-time studies, the Master degree another 2 years.

1. Major Societies

The largest and leading engineering network in Germany is the VDI – The
Association of German Engineers (Verein Deutscher Ingenieure). It has
approximately 150.000 personal members from all engineering disciplines in all
professional functions including students, scientists, and engineers in industry. Itserves as a knowledge and competence platform for new technologies andtechnical solutions. The VDI comprises 12 professional sub-societies which hosta large number of working groups addressing specific topics. The most relevant
sub-societies for thermal sciences and engineering are: (i) Energy andEnvironment, (ii) Process and Chemical Engineering (GVC). ‘Energy andEnvironment’ hosts a working group Thermodynamics with elected members from academia andindustry. It is closely collaborating with DECHEMA, an independent expert society for chemicalengineering and biotechnology in Germany with about 5.800 members. VDI-GVC and DECHEMA
jointly initiated and run PROCESSNET, a professional platform for process engineering, chemicalengineering and technical chemistry. PROCESSNET hosts several subject divisions among which Heatand Mass Transfer and Thermodynamics are the most relevant to thermal science and engineering.
2. Major Meetings

On a national level, major meetings related to thermal science and engineering are the joint annual meeting ‘Thermodynamics’ of the above mentioned VDI working group andProcessNet subject division, the annual meeting ‘Heat and Mass Transfer’ of the above mentioned ProcessNet subject
division.

The academic degree “Dr.-Ing.” is awarded after successful research studies and examination by all
Universities and some Universities of Applied Sciences. In engineering science, doctoral candidates
are typically employed in nonpermanent full-time positions as junior scientists by their institutions.
The typical duration is 3 to 5 years. Apart from their research studies they quite often also assist
approximately 2 hours per week in teaching, e.g. by supervising student exercise classes.
Quite atypical in comparison to international customs, professors in engineering sciences in Germany
are relatively often appointed back to the university from positions in industry. At Universities ofApplied Sciences this practical experience is even a prerequisite for an appointment.

5. Foundations of Scientific Research
The German Research Foundation (DFG) is the main organization funding basic research in Germany.
Researchers can apply with individual proposals as well as with joint proposals for collaborativeresearch. Proposals are always peer-reviewed, before the DFG committees make a final decision.
Several ministries, e.g. the Federal Ministry of Education and Research or the Federal Ministry ofEconomic Affairs and Climate Action, have their funding programs focusing on more applicationoriented research.

--------------by Peter Stephan, Ulrich Groß, Stephan Kabelac, Stephan Scholl

3. Major Journals and the VDI Heat Atlas

Formerly Springer published a journal entitled ‘Wärme- und Stoffübertragung’ with papers also in
German. Since 1995 this journal is publishing under the title ‘Heat and Mass Transfer’ with papers
in English only.
For more than 50 years now, the VDI-Wärmeatlas (VDI Heat Atlas) isestablished as an indispensable working tool for German engineers inindustry and academia dealing with heat transfer issues. Today it ispublished by Springer Publishing Company. More than 60 authors present
state of the art calculation methods in different chapters on all topics
relevant for the design of technical apparatus and plants, e.g. in processand power engineering. The 12th German edition (VDI-Wärmeatlas) waspublished in 2019, the 2nd English edition (VDI Heat Atlas) in 2010.
4. University System and Engineering Education

Germany has a system with two types of universities: (i) Universities of Applied Sciences (formerly
called Fachhochschulen), (ii) Universities. Universities of Applied Sciences are mainly focused on2526