Verbunden

Rektorin Christa Neuper und die NAWI-Fakultät empfingen PartnerInnen der strategischen Partneruniversität Montclair State University. Foto: Uni Graz/Tzivanopoulos

Die Städte Graz und Montclair verbindet eine jahrelange und enge Freundschaft. Auch die Unis: eine naturwissenschaftliche Beziehung

Montclair in New Jersey, USA, Graz im Herzen Europas in der Steiermark. Beide Städte verbindet seit 1950 eine enge Partnerschaft; es passiert kultureller Austausch sowie auch die Möglichkeit für Grazer Studierende mittels eigener Stipendienprogramme Erfahrungen an den jeweiligen Landesuniversitäten zu machen. Nun gibt es auch Bestrebungen auf Forschungsebene: In einem gemeinsamen Symposium, das am 5. Oktober 2017 an der Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz stattfand, wurde eine weitere Zusammenarbeit im Form einer jährlichen wissenschaftlichen Tagung in Angriff genommen.

Bei der Veranstaltung trafen sich zehn Mitglieder des College of Sciences and Mathematics sowie zwei Mitglieder des Departments of Psychology der us-amerikanischen Universität unter der Führung von Dekanin Lora Billings, um in Brainstorming-Veranstaltungen über zukünftige Forschungskooperationen und Fördermöglichkeiten zu diskutieren und in Folge insbesondere den Austausch von Studierenden zu verstärken. Der Schwerpunkt liegt derzeit in Bereichen der Life Sciences, Umweltstudien, Psychologie und Fachdidaktik, wo bereite informelle Kontakte existieren. Unter den zahlreichen ForscherInnen aus vorwiegend naturwissenschaftlichen Zwiegen der Uni Graz fanden sich auch Rektorin Christa Neuper, NAWI-Vizedekan Univ.Prof. Dr. Karl Lohner sowie Vertreter der Forschungskooperation NAWIGraz.

Claudia Spidla & Konstantinos Tzivanopoulos

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