The 27th colloquium "High Voltage and Systems Engineering" took place from July 4 to 6, 2019. In keeping with tradition, over 30 doctoral students from the Technical Universities of Darmstadt, Dresden, Ilmenau, Munich and Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences met to discuss their current research work. This year's colloquium was hosted and organized by the Chair of High Voltage and High Current Technology at Dresden University of Technology.

The participants presented their research results in the field of electrical power engineering in a total of 19 presentations, which were divided into four lecture sessions. The main focus was on future developments in high-voltage direct current transmission, gas-insulated systems, electrical insulating materials and contact and switching behavior. The Department of High Voltage Technology at Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences took part with a total of five presentations by Harald Schmalfuß, Jun Ting Loh, Heike Herzig, Rüdiger Cervinka and Stefan Kühnel. The subsequent discussion rounds were used for lively scientific discussions and an exchange of experiences.

In addition to the many interesting presentations, the agenda included a tour of the laboratory and, as a highlight, a visit to the disused Freiberg silver works. After arriving by bus, we took the elevator down to a depth of around 150 meters. During a 1.5-hour tour, visitors were able to marvel at tunnels from the 19th and 20th centuries, which were driven into the rock by the remarkable efforts of the miners. We were also able to visit some of the underground laboratories of the Freiberg University of Mining and Technology and admire the machinery and electrical equipment used to mine the ore.

We would especially like to thank Professor Großmann and the TU Dresden team for the successful event and are already looking forward to the 28th Colloquium on High Voltage and Plant Engineering in Darmstadt in 2020.