Ms. Christiane Bär successfully defended her dissertation at the TU Munich, Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science on June 10, 2016. As a graduate of our university, she began her work in September 2010 as a research assistant in the Department of High Voltage Technology/Materials in Electrical Engineering. In the period September 2012 - August 2015, Ms. Bär worked on a joint research project funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy on the topic of "Test methods for the evaluation of water-repellent properties of polymeric insulating materials for high-voltage applications" in cooperation between the Technical University of Munich and the Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences.

The topic was supervised by Prof. Dr.-Ing. Kindersberger from the Technical University of Munich and Prof. Dr.-Ing. The main focus for the Zittau research centre was the creation of an improved basis for an internationally standardizable, time-accelerated test method for evaluating the hydrophobic resistance and hydrophobic recovery of polymer insulating materials. In addition to the hydrophobic transfer capability of special polymeric insulating materials to deposited contamination layers, these properties are also referred to as "key properties" for their safe use under high-voltage outdoor conditions (e.g. as sheath materials of high-voltage composite insulators) and therefore play an important role in the further development of plastic outdoor insulators for AC and DC networks up to the highest voltage levels. Based on the set project goals, Ms. Bär was able to gain new scientifically sound knowledge by applying and further developing suitable testing and measuring methods as well as in-depth process analyses, which contributed to the successful completion of the research project and formed the basis for her dissertation.

Congratulations to Ms Bär after the defense of her dissertation at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology at the Technical University of Munich on 10.06.2016:

Building on many years of experience in applied research in the field of high voltage engineering/materials in electrical engineering at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Ms. Bär's scientific work has once again confirmed that there are still opportunities for cooperative doctoral procedures based on determined project work, which should be an incentive for young scientists at our university. And Ms. Bär has proven that the proportion of women in the "Club of Doctoral Engineers" can demonstrably increase.