also has more than 300 vocational trainees and students on placement in 23 different professions. In 2020, 672 visiting scientists from 62 countries were conducting research at Jülich. Prizes and awards for Jülich employees On 10 December 2007, Peter Grünberg from Forschungszentrum Jülich was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics together with Albert Fert from Paris-Sud University in France. The two scientists were honoured for the discovery of giant magnetoresistance, which they had made independently of each other. This was the first Nobel Prize for an employee of Forschungszentrum Jülich or the Helmholtz Association. In 1998, Peter Grünberg had been awarded the German Future Prize, and in 2007, he and Albert Fert were joint recipients of the Japan Prize as well as the Israeli Wolf Prize in Physics. The Wolf Prize in Physics was also jointly awarded in 2011 to Knut Urban from Forschungszentrum Jülich, Maximilian Haider from CEOS GmbH, Heidelberg, and Harald Rose from the Technical University of Darmstadt for their breakthrough in electron microscopy. They also received the Japanese Honda Prize in 2008 for the same discovery. In 2002, Maria-Regina Kula und Martina Pohl won the German Future Prize for the development of biological catalysts. Training and teaching at Forschungszentrum Jülich In 2020, more than 300 people trained in 23 different professions at Forschungszentrum Jülich. In cooperation with RWTH Aachen University and Aachen University of Applied Sciences, FZJ also offers dual vocational and academic courses. After successful completion of their final exams, trainees are offered a six-month employment contract in their chosen profession. Since Forschungszentrum Jülich was founded, more than 5,000 trainees have completed their training in more than 25 different professions. In a joint procedure with the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia, the institute directors at Forschungszentrum Jülich are appointed professors at one of the neighbouring universities (e.g. in Aachen, Bonn, Cologne, Düsseldorf, Bochum, Duisburg-Essen, Münster) in line with the “Jülich model”. In cooperation with the universities, graduate and research schools are established (e.g. International Helmholtz Research School of Biophysics and Soft Matter with the universities in Cologne Düsseldorf). The idea behind this is to support and encourage the interdisciplinary scientific education of doctoral students. Research fields and activities Research areas Forschungszentrum Jülich groups its research activities into three interdisciplinary strategic research areas: energy, information, and bioeconomy. Information Scientists in the research area of information investigate how information is processed in biological and technical systems. They are