H-BRS awards Children’s University diplomas to 30 young researchers

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How is ‘Dubai’ chocolate made? How do you build an electric racing car? How do robots learn to see? And what is the genetic code of strawberries? More than 145 young researchers explored all these questions at the 11th edition of the Children’s University at the Hochschule Bonn-Rhein-Sieg (H-BRS). At the closing ceremony yesterday afternoon (Thursday, 11 June 2026), around 30 girls and boys who had taken part in at least two events received their diplomas in the main lecture theatre in Sankt Augustin. Their families were also invited to attend.

Children's University: Graduation ceremony in June 2026 (gallery)

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Learning is fun – that’s the message Vice-President Peter Muck conveyed to the children in a playful way. Photo: Juri Küstenmacher/H-BRS

Plenty of 'aha' moments at the Children's University

Professor Peter Muck, Vice President Teaching and Learning, presented the diplomas and playfully showed the children that learning is fun – especially when that famous ‘aha’ moment strikes. “Learning should be like this: trying something out, experiencing something, laughing in the process and sometimes even thinking: ‘That can’t be true!’”, said Muck. There had been many such moments during the Children’s University events. At the same time, curiosity and perseverance are important in scientific work, in line with the motto “It may seem impossible, but I’ll give it a go anyway”.

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The proud young researchers present their diplomas at the graduation ceremony. Photo: Juri Küstenmacher/H-BRS

Getting involved, discovering and trying things out are key to all the events at the Children’s University, which the university had this time organised under the overarching theme ‘News from the World Workshop – Research, Marvel, Understand!’. As always, all places for the four sessions were quickly booked up. The event was open to children aged eight to twelve, or in years three to six from all types of schools. Anyone who had attended at least two lectures was invited to the Children’s University graduation ceremony.

Chocolate, racing cars, robots and genes

The Children’s University series kicked off on a sweet note with chocolate, angel hair and pistachio cream. Guido Krause worked with the young researchers to make “Dubai-style” chocolate and explored why this creation has become so popular. After that, things got fast-paced. The student team from BRS Motorsport presented the girls and boys with the electric racing car they had developed themselves and its technology – including a test drive, of course. The exciting world of robots was then explored with “Pepper”. Ritwik Sinha showed the budding scientists the Autonomous Systems Laboratory and demonstrated the robots’ complex camera systems. There was joking and dancing with “Pepper”. To round off this year’s series of events, the children finally set out to uncover the secrets of genes. Together with Professor Oskar Schnappauf, Dr Nicole Strauß and Dagmar Kockler, they made a colourful DNA strand and decoded the genetic code of strawberries in the laboratory.&

Twelfth edition of the Children’s University 2027 in preparation

The organiser of the Children’s University, Caroline Jahn from the H-BRS event management team, is currently preparing the twelfth edition of the Children’s University. In terms of content, the new lecture series will once again cover various research topics and is expected to take place from the start of next year. The programme will be published in advance on the Children’s University website – so be sure to complete registration quickly to secure one of the coveted places.

Further information about the Children’s University

Press photo available for download

Children’s University certificates for the young researchers: group photo with electric racing cars at the closing event. Photo: Juri Küstenmacher/H-BRS

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