As part of the “United by Crisis?” project, four students from Viennese schools completed a four-week internship at the Chair of General and Analytical Chemistry at Montanuniversität Leoben, supervised by Johanna Irrgeher, Michael Schober and Simone Trimmel. The internship took place from 1st to 26th of July.

The group included Rosa Mangold from the school Sir-Karl-Popper-Schule www.popperschule.at, as well as Fabio Sedlacek, Philip Gruber and Constantin Kornfeld from the school HBLVA17 Rosensteingasse FÜR CHEMISCHE INDUSTRIE www.hblva17.ac.at. Based on the internship, Rosa Mangold will write her pre-scientific thesis (VWA) for the school-leaving examination (Matura), while the other three students work on their diploma theses.

During the internship, the students tested a miniaturisation protocol for ammonium nitrate extracts of soil samples. They worked with two soils which were already well characterised previously for their multi-element data and strontium isotope ratios.

The results of the internship are promising. Even with small sample sizes, no strontium isotope fractionation was observed, indicating that the miniaturisation was successful. The internship not only allowed the students to become more familiar with scientific work, but also provided them with hands-on experience in analytical chemistry. We thank Rosa, Fabio, Philip and Constantin for their valuable contribution to “United by Crisis?” and wish them all the best for their future!

We would like to sincerely thank the FFG for the financial support of the projects IsoZAHN, IsoSCAPE, and IsoFOOD-AHS as part of the funding for student internships in 2024.