This year's annual meeting of the DECHEMA/VDI working groups on Reaction Engineering, Electrochemical Processes, and Kinetics and Reaction Mechanisms took place from May 26th to May 28th 2026.

As part of the 8th CSE Safety Days 2026, Professor Busch together with Markus Gödde (BASF) held a presentation entitled “Deflagration and Venting Using the Example of Ethylene High-Pressure Polymerization Mixtures”. The event took place from April 27 to 29 on the island of Wangerooge and was held under the guiding theme “Safety Engineering from Its Beginnings to the Future”.

Laura Euler Bueno successfully defended her doctoral thesis on the 20th of April 2026, which was titled “In-Depth Analysis of Alcohols as Chain Transfer Agents in the High-Pressure Polymerization of Ethene”.

Alexander Klimeck successfully defended his doctoral thesis on the 20th of April 2026, which was titled “Advancing LDPE Process Understanding: Predictive Transfer Constants and Challenges in the Copolymerization with Acrylic Acid”.

Aaron Röblitz successfully defended his doctoral thesis on the 13th of April 2026, which was titled “Safety-Related Investigation and Visualization of Decomposition and Pressure Relief Scenarios in the High-Pressure LDPE Process”.

The annual coference of the DECHEMA/VDI specialist group on High-Pressure Process Engineering took place from 25th to 26th February 2026 at Graz University of Technology.

In this year’s project design course, 87 students worked from February 23 to March 6 2026, on the design of a chemical plant at industrial scale. The course was carried out in close collaboration with an industrial partner, with organizational leadership provided by Provadis and the Franken working group. An excursion to the industrial plant on March 11 complemented the practice-oriented assignment.

Moritz Imhoff successfully defended his doctoral thesis on the 9th of February 2026, which was titled “Retrospective Consideration of Decomposition Events in the High-Pressure Polymerization Process”.

Nicola Schreiner successfully defended his doctoral thesis on the 9th of February, which was titled “High-Pressure Polymerization of Ethene: Industrial Applications on Mini-Plant Scale”.

From December 15 to 20, the Pacifichem 2025 took place in Honolulu, Hawaii. Prof. Busch presented “Bridging from fundamentals to large-scale application – material design and process safety considerations by theory and practice”, while Kristina presented “Emulsion Polymerizations under High-Pressure Conditions: Experiments and Modelling.”

On 10 December, the Busch research group held its Christmas celebration. The evening began with a visit to the Christmas market, where the group came together over mulled wine and punch. This was followed by a brewery tour at Grohe. The event concluded with a shared dinner on site, bringing the evening to a close in a relaxed atmosphere.

On 9 December, the Department of Chemistry honored the graduates of the Bachelor’s, mMaster’s, and Doctoral programs. The event takes place twice a year.

Sascha Hintenlang successfully defended his doctoral thesis on the 8th of December, which was titled “Implementing A New Comonomer into the High-Pressure Polymerization with Ethene”.

On the fifth of December 2025, the working group Busch held its traditional Santa Claus Coffee. Current staff and former members of the group came together for an evening in a festively arranged setting to foster exchange over food and drinks. A total of approximately 50 participants attended which included 17 former members.

Jonas Degenkolb successfully defended his doctoral thesis on the first December 2025, which was titled “Systematic Design of Predictive Models of the LDPE Polymerization up to Industrial Scale”.

On 19 November 2025, Kristina Zentel received the “Athene Award for Excellent Teaching” from the Karin Giersch Foundation. The award recognizes a teaching concept defined by clear structure, academic depth and the consistent integration of sustainability.

From 28 October to 30 October, Prof. Busch, together with Daniel Dyck, Sandra Pietrasch, Xaver-Phillip Possehl and Joshua Stahl, visited Borealis in Stenungsund (Sweden). The research group and Borealis AG have maintained a long-standing collaboration across various projects.

Lena Gockel successfully defended her doctoral thesis on 27 October 2025, which was titled “Modeling the Mixing Behavior of LDPE Reactors and its Influence on Polymer Properties”.

As part of a lecture series held at Queen’s University in Kingston, Professor Busch delivered his talk “Bridging from Fundamentals to Large-Scale Application – Material Design and Process Safety Considerations by Theory and Practice” on October 9.

On October 2 the annual ChemCup took place. This soccer tournament was hosted by the Department of Chemistry in the university stadium. The eight teams which are composed of various research groups, delivered exciting matches.

This year, the seminar week of the working group Busch took place from August 27th to August 2nd at the Darmstädter Haus in Hirschegg.

This year's ASME PVP (Pressure Vessels & Piping) conference took place from July 20 to 25, 2025 in Montreal, Canada. The working group Busch presented its current research in three lectures.

The ESS-HPT (“The European Summer School in High Pressure Technology”) 2025 took place from July 6 to 19 in Graz (Austria). Six PhD students from the working group Busch participated in the event.

On July 9, the semi-annual graduation party of the department of chemistry took place, which honors the graduates, who completed their Bachelor's or Master's degree or doctorate.

On July 4, 2025, the eighteenth annual meeting of Darmstadt’s Chemical Technologists and the awarding of the Ernst-Berl-Prize took place at the Restaurant Oberwaldhaus.