Press release: Greater exchange between Germany and Japan

Nr. 196/2016 - 06.10.2016

University Network intensifies its advancement of young researchers – New working group "Data Science"

(pug) The consortium universities in the German-Japanese University Network HeKKSaGOn intend to further intensify the exchange between students and young researchers and scientists. At the fifth HeKKSaGOn conference in Karlsruhe, the six rectors and presidents presented their concepts for the advancement of young researchers. The motto was “Increasing Student Mobility for the Scientists and Pioneers of Tomorrow". Amongst other objectives, they aim to ramp up the joint doctoral programmes offered, increase the number of jointly supervised doctorates and further expand exchange programmes like regular summer and winter schools at the different locations.

Parallel to this event, some 120 researchers from the various consortium universities gathered in eight interdisciplinary working groups to collaborate on solving future societal challenges. The topics ranged from the life and physical sciences, chemistry and energy conversion, catalysis and nanotechnology, disaster risk and response to the social and human sciences, robotics, neuroscience and mathematics. In addition, a ninth working group on "data science”, which deals with the production, processing, structuring and cooperative use of scientific data at universities, was established at the conference.

“The global problems of the future can only be solved through international and interdisciplinary cooperation," affirms Göttingen University President Professor Ulrike Beisiegel. "The researchers in our network are working on key scientific issues, and this open scientific exchange is absolutely necessary if we are to develop joint solutions."

“With our current focus on the mobility of students, but especially with the establishment of the new working group on data science, we have brought issues to the fore that will significantly determine the development of all internationally orientated universities in the future," asserts Professor Hiltraud Casper-Hehne, Vice-President for International Affairs at Göttingen University. “The conference demonstrated that tangible fruit is borne from collaboration across the network. This is evidenced by the ever intensifying scientific exchange between students and researchers, but particularly by the numerous joint publications and third-party funding projects that deal with the global issues of our time."

In February of this year, nine doctoral students from the University of Göttingen received scholarships from Kyoto University to attend a winter school on the subject "From Materials to Life: Multidisciplinary Challenges”. The winter school served to drive interdisciplinary collaboration between young researchers and scientists from various fields such as chemistry, biology, medicine, the material sciences and experimental physics.

In 2010, the Universities of Göttingen and Heidelberg along with the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) joined together with three of the leading Japanese universities in Kyoto, Osaka and Tohoku, to form the HeKKSaGOn consortium. The aim of the unprecedented German-Japanese University Network is to ensure the sustainability of transnational measures and projects. After the devastating earthquake in Japan in March 2011, the University of Göttingen initiated a relief campaign for their partner university in Tohoku; the city of Göttingen as well as numerous partners from science, business, culture and sport from across South Lower Saxony got involved in the campaign.

Contact address:
Professor Hiltraud Casper-Hehne
Georg-August-Universität Göttingen
Vice President for International Affairs
Wilhelmsplatz 1, 37073 Göttingen, Germany
Phone +49 (0)551 39-13110
E-mail: hiltraud.casper-hehne@zvw.uni-goettingen.de
Website: www.uni-goettingen.de/en/110984.html