HAIreconnect Lets Alumni Return to Heidelberg
The HAIreconnect option is one of the services offered to members of the Research-Alumni Network. This scholarship in the form of fixed day rates offers former international guest scientists the chance to return to Heidelberg University for a short research stay of one day to two weeks at most. Scientists must be registered at Heidelberg Alumni International (HAI), contribute actively to the Research-Alumni Network and be willing to act as an ambassador for Heidelberg University among their students and colleagues. Interested scientists can apply here until the end of February. The planned stay must take place in the first half of 2013.
The purpose of the programme is to involve Research-Alumni more closely in the work of Heidelberg University: following their stay in Heidelberg, they become the university’s ambassador, representing and promoting Heidelberg as a research location among their colleagues and students. Applications for the HAIreconnect scholarship can be entered not just by the scientists themselves, but also by the hosting institute of Ruperto Carola. The HAI team supports participants even before the actual stay in their planning and preparations.
Until now, five Research-Alumni have returned to Ruperto Carola with HAIreconnect: three former guest scientists from India, one from Bangladesh and another from Mexico. They took part in a half-day workshop to learn about the project and their work as ambassadors of Heidelberg University. In the remaining time, they were able to reconnect with research contacts, meet colleagues, teach or give lectures and, of course, rediscover the city of Heidelberg.
Prof. Mohammed Enamullah of the Department of Chemistry at Jahangirnagar University in Dhaka, Bangladesh, met with former colleagues of the Department of Inorganic Chemistry to talk about potential joint research projects between the two institutions. He also arranged to meet with students of his home university who are currently studying in Heidelberg. Dr. Lipi Thukral of the Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology in Delhi, India, used her stay to continue her research work with Prof. Jeremy C. Smith and Emal Alekozai of the Interdisciplinary Center for Scientific Computing (IWR). Dr. Axel Tiessen-Favier from Irapuato in Mexico explored the possibilities of establishing a student exchange programme between Heidelberg University and the Centro de Investigación y de Estudios Avanzados del Instituto Politécnico Nacional (CINESTAV) in Mexico City.
A number of HAIreconnect activities are already being planned for 2013: A Research-Alumnus will teach a seminar at the Institute for German as a Foreign Language Philology (IDF). There are also plans to introduce a “Spring Break Away” programme at an American university – an excursion to Heidelberg within the framework of a university course.
