Diversity Meets Sustainability—under this motto, we participated in the “Geistesblitz” Science Festival last Friday. Organized by UniverCity Bochum, the event brought science out of the lecture halls and labs and right into downtown Bochum.

With a wide variety of lectures, workshops, exhibitions, experiments, DJ sets, delicious food, and much more, there was something to discover around every corner at “Geistesblitz.” Many visitors, from current and former students to people who had previously had little to do with universities, were there to try new things and engage in conversation with researchers and students.

Our team from SFB 1683 “Modular Reuse” contributed to the event with the “Concrete Experiment Station” and presented potential applications and benefits of concrete, while also addressing resource consumption and scarcity. Sustainability aspects and opportunities for reuse play a central role here. How are new structural systems created from reused building components? How are these made safe through characterization? And how do the individual steps in the circular construction process come together through digitalization and automation?

A special highlight was our Boston Dynamics robot dog RUBy, who turned out to be a real crowd-pleaser.