Podcast Episode 1: Niels Giesselmann

In our first podcast episode, Niels Giesselmann talks about nanoconfined water and the struggles he faced when he started his PhD thesis at DESY right at the peak of a pandemic lockdown.

Photograph of Niels Giesselmann, a blond young man wearing glasses, a beard and a squared shirt
Photograph of Niels Giesselmann. Marta Mayer, DESY.

After finishing his Masters in Applied Physics with a thesis about rotating nanorods, Niels started working at DESY on the structure and dynamics of nanoconfined water and ice in January 2021. As this was at the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic, in this episode he talks about the difficulties that came with starting a new job in home office and moving to a new city during lockdown.


Science Chatter Hamburg is a project by PIER, the strategic partnership between Uni Hamburg and DESY. It is coordinated by Theresa Schredelseker. Michael Büker is the podcast host. The intro music uses these sounds from freesound: “physics note.flac” by arseniiv (https://freesound.org/s/241046/) and “Weird_Shark_Noise.wav” by Shaddius (https://freesound.org/s/450619/) both licensed under CC0 as well as “Turn On – Science Fiction.wav” by ApolloJavras (https://freesound.org/s/269082/) licensed under CCBY-NC 3.0

Theresa Schredelseker

As a molecular biologist by training, Theresa is currently trying to share her enthusiasm for science communication with early career researchers at DESY and Uni Hamburg.

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