Prof Dr Gerard Schepers holds guest lecture  at Bremerhaven University of Applied Sciences

Germany's electrical energy supply and hydrogen transport do not end at the country's borders. Germany and the Netherlands in particular are working across national borders to expand renewable energies. Prof. Dr Carsten Fichter from Bremerhaven University of Applied Sciences and Prof. Dr Gerard Schepers from the Hanzehogeschool in Groningen want to prepare their students for international cooperation. In addition to guest lectures, they give them an insight into the current state of research in their respective home countries. In the future, they would like to further intensify their collaboration.

The Hanzehogeschool has been a partner university of Bremerhaven University of Applied Sciences for some time now. However, the collaboration in the field of renewable energies is still relatively new: Prof. Dr Carsten Fichter, who teaches and researches in Bremerhaven as a professor of wind energy technology, energy management and energy storage, visited the Dutch university for the first time in May 2024. His first three guest lectures in Groningen followed in January 2025. "My aim was to underpin the cooperation with content in order to strengthen internationalisation in teaching and research in the field of renewable energies. The current guest lectures are the result of this," he says.

"We can enrich the lecture with his knowledge"

The first return visit took place recently. Prof. Dr Gerard Schepers spoke about rotor aerodynamics in the Process Engineering and Energy Technology and Wind Energy Technology Master's degree courses. This was very well received by the students. "Gerard specialises in the field of rotor aerodynamics and his research is right at the cutting edge. I'm delighted that we can enrich the lecture with his knowledge," says Prof Fichter.
In future, the cooperation is to be stabilised and further expanded. This will benefit not only the students, but also research at Bremerhaven University of Applied Sciences. ‘We are planning joint projects in the fields of wind energy and hydrogen as well as in science communication on sustainable energy generation,’ explains Prof Fichter. 
In order to drive forward the expansion of renewable energies and thus be able to produce more green hydrogen, well-trained specialists are needed worldwide. The guest lectures enable the two partner universities to familiarise future engineers with internationalisation topics during their studies. In the Bachelor's degree programme in Engineering at Bremerhaven University of Applied Sciences, students can specialise in wind energy and hydrogen. In the specialisation in Marine Technology and Wind Energy (formerly Maritime Technologies), they deal with the sea as an energy source - for example with the topics of offshore wind energy and hydrogen production at sea. This specialist knowledge is further deepened in the Master's degree programme in Wind Energy Technology. Applications for these and other courses are open until 15 August. Further information can be found at www.hs-bremerhaven.de/study.