DLED 2025 (Heidelberg, Germany)
German Luminescence and ESR conference (DLED 2025)
14-16 November 2025
Host institution
Heidelberg University, Germany
Short description
Back to the roots – 30th anniversary of the German Luminescence and ESR conference in Heidelberg
Under the motto “Back to the roots”, the German Luminescence and ESR dating (Deutsche Lumineszenz- und ESR Datierung – DLED) community met 14th–16th November 2025 in Heidelberg – the place where, after the fall of the Berlin wall and the opening of the Inner German border, the Freiberg and the Heidelberg luminescence laboratories first met informally to discuss recent developments of the radiometric dating techniques. Afterwards, the meeting became officially established as an annual conference that is meanwhile regularly attended by researchers not only from Germany, but also from Austria, Switzerland and Poland. This year, our meeting started with a pre-conference R workshop on November 13th, 2025, at the Institute of Geography, Heidelberg University, given by Thomas Kolb
and Dirk Mittelstraß, which was well attended, especially by young researchers.
The following two days, we were guests in the building of the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences at the foot of the romantic Heidelberg castle ruin. We welcomed more than 45 participants, including a few ALUMNis (Abstinent Luminescence Nerds), and enjoyed 16 oral and 16 poster contributions showing the dynamic evolution of the radiometric dating techniques, and hands-on sessions on sample preparation, environmental gamma dose rate measurements with a novel cadmium zinc telluride (CZT) detector, and portable OSL profiling like in the Nebraska Sand Hills. Frank Preusser contributed a special talk on the upper age limit of MET IRSL SAR dating on feldspar, and Ashok Singhvi, via video, reviewed 45 years of progress in luminescence dating, both adding to the overall success of the meeting. The final session focused on possible future activities like recruiting young researchers and incorporating AI in the data analysis generated by the radiometric dating techniques.
The traditional DLED hiking led us on a misty Sunday morning from the Academy building up to the castle ruin and further up the Neckar Valley to Neckargemünd, from where a visit to the famous find site of the Homo heidelbergensis at Mauer was organized. There, Sebastian Kreutzer addressed the early days of radiofluorescence dating by Matthias Krbetschek and Günther A. Wagner, and its importance for the chronological placement of the prehistoric jaw. At the find site and in the Prehistoric Museum in the town hall of Mauer, Ms Sylvia Knörr gave an instructive guided tour before the participants came together for a final outdoor farewell sausage.
Thanks to financial support from Freiberg Instruments, Risø DTU, and μDose, the conference fees could be kept low, especially for junior scientists, while providing good food throughout the meeting.
