Workshop on Higher Education and Research Opportunities in Germany

The German House for Research and Innovation - DWIH New Delhi, a consortia of leading German research institutes and universities and IISER Mohali organised a one day workshop on August 22, 2015 entitled "Higher Education and Research Opportunities in Germany" at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Mohali. The event’s objective was to apprise young Indian scientists and researchers about research and training opportunities available to them at German institutions. The event was co-ordinated by Dr. Vinayak Sinha on behalf of IISER Mohali. IISER Mohali PhD students helped provide all logistical support to the DWIH and assisted with the registrations. The sessions were attended by about 500 post-graduate students, doctoral students, researchers as well as faculty and senior scientists from the member institutions that form the Chandigarh Region Innovation and Knowledge Cluster (CRIKC).

In his introductory remarks, Mr. Stephan Lanzinger, Counsellor and Head of Science & Technology Section
at the German Embassy in India spoke at length on the Indo-German cooperation in Science and Technology. Professor Sanjay Mandal, Coordinator, Opportunity Cell IISER Mohali then introduced the audience to the IISER  curriculum, system and vision. This was followed by individual presentations made by the DWIH consortium
members such as the German Research Foundation (DFG), German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), Freie 21 Universität Berlin, University of Cologne (UoC), University of Göttingen (UoG), Heidelberg Centre South Asia (HCSA), Forschungszentrum Jülich and Technical University of Munich (TUM), who highlighted specific higher education and research opportunity programs fostered by their institutes in India. Following the presentations, the students had direct interaction with the consortium members regarding further queries on the application processes and research opportunities. Dr. Alexander P Hansen, Director, DFG India Office delivered the vote of thanks and expressed his gratitude to IISER Mohali for the excellent organization of the workshop.