More than 300 PhD Candidates and Postdocs participated in the German Science Day 2017
For the sixth time, the DAAD Cairo invited numerous experts and scientists to the German Science Day – this year within the framework of Clusters of Scientific Innovation in the Middle East and North Africa (COSIMENA). The German Science Day acts as a platform for promising doctoral and postdoctoral candidates to engage with the German research landscape and the attendees can get meaningful insights and a first feedback for their planned research in Germany.
The aim is to foster further interdisciplinary and binational research relations and to intensify the already deep Egyptian-German exchange in scientific research.
This year’s German Science Day opened with a panel discussion on “Doing Research at German Universities”. Throughout the day, more than 300 participants were invited to visit numerous lectures given by our German guests on the most recent research and development ‘’made in Germany’’. Amongst others, Dr Angela Krewani of Philipps-Universität Marburg, provided insights on the impact of TV sit coms on their audience. Dr Walid Azab of Freie Universität Berlin presented advanced scientific knowledge on viruses as masters of co-evolution and a constant life threat. In her short lecture, Prof Dr Maike Petersen of Philipps-Universität Marburg focused on genes and enzymes of plant specialized metabolism in plant in vitro-cultures. Prof Dr Rudolf Schäfer and Christoph Bahnhardt of Technische Universität Berlin presented the universities research in urban development and energy efficiency of renewable energies in Egypt. Dr Ezzelin Metwali and Dr Murad Omar of Technical Universiy Munich shared their latest research in the field of nanostructured materials for solid-state batteries respectively the advances in optical biomedical imaging. Moreover, Dr Marc Milling offered workshops on “Project Management and third Party Funds”.
In addition, the participants had the opportunity to visit the individual counselling offered by the Technische Universität Berlin, Technical University of Munich, Freie Universität Berlin, Philipps-Universität Marburg and Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn. The counselling sessions were a unique opportunity for the PhD and Post-Doc candidates to establish a first-contact with German professors, to present their proposals and get valuable insights and feedback. Following the German Science Day, the attendees will be able to use their established contact to further develop their research proposals and possibly find a doctoral supervisor.
Other representatives of the universities and funding organisations, such as the DAAD and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, provided insights into scholarships, programmes, application procedures and financing models through information booths and sessions. In addition, a panel consisting of representatives of the Research Development and Innovation Programme (RDI), Science and Technology Fund in Egypt (STDF) and Erasmus+ elaborated on “Best Practices on Utilizing Project Funding”.
The big rush and the high number of applicants, demonstrated once again Egyptian’s interest in the German higher education sector and the importance of the DAAD’s work in providing outstanding Egyptian scholars with direct contacts to German research institutions.
