Girls’ Day 2026: From Ocean Current Experiments to the World Climate Conference

Future climate scientists in the making? On 23 April 2026, Girls’ Day took place at PIK for the 15th time. The event kicked off with a guided tour of the Albert Einstein Science Park on Potsdam’s Telegrafenberg. During the tour, the students not only got an overview of the institutes located there but also learned about the history of the buildings and their current uses. Starting at the Süring House, the tour led from the supercomputer to the Michelson House, PIK’s main building.

There, the next item on the programme built directly on the impressions from the tour: physicist Maria Martin from PIK not only answered questions about the scientist Albert A. Michelson, after whom the building is named, and his famous experiment, but also bridged the gap to practical research. She spoke about her own career in science and provided insights into her work as a researcher, including her participation in an expedition to Antarctica. The students were particularly interested in her personal experiences.

Understanding climate systems through experiment and debate

After the participants had already learned quite a bit about working with climate models, they got hands-on: in an ocean current experiment, they simulated the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC). This demonstrated how sensitive the system is to changes such as global warming and the melting of the polar ice caps, and the far-reaching consequences this could have for the global climate.

Finally, the focus turned to politics: in a role-playing exercise, the participants simulated an international climate conference. Divided into country groups, they represented very different interests, forged alliances, and negotiated future fossil fuel consumption. It became clear how difficult it is to find common solutions—even when there is awareness of the problem. The compromise negotiated by the pupils would result in global warming of about two to four degrees.

For the first time, the participants also had the opportunity to ask the PIK press team open-ended questions about climate research. These will be addressed by PIK researchers and answered via social media.

Girls’ Day is a career orientation project for female students that provides insights into professional fields where women have historically been underrepresented. The goal is to spark interest in these areas and foster it over the long term. Girls’ Day thus makes an important contribution to promoting girls in STEM careers and is supported by the Federal Ministry for Education, Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth.