Workshop for research alumni officers

All Photos: Humboldt Foundation/ Kolb

The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (AvH) organised its third workshop for research alumni officers in May 2017 to promote research alumni work at German colleges, universities and research institutions. The purpose of the event hosted by the University of Bayreuth and entitled ‘Research Alumni as Ambassadors, Partners, Friends and Catalysers’ was to support and encourage research alumni officers to share their ideas and experiences with each other. The programme for the event, which attracted nearly 65 participants, included lectures, panel discussions and work groups on various aspects of the subject. For the programme item ‘Research alumni work in practice’, HAI director Silke Rodenberg moderated a work group on ‘The profile of research alumni advisers and the service portfolio of international alumni networks at colleges and universities’.

The two-day workshop gave the participants a chance to exchange experiences and discuss new ideas. Experts of the University of Bayreuth gave two talks in which they explained how small and mid-sized universities in particular can use research alumni work as an important element of their international strategy, and how international Collaborative Research Centres, projects of the German Research Foundation or graduate schools might be used to establish alumni networks. Other topics discussed by the participants included research alumni work in Europe, working with researchers in danger, legal questions and networking activities, databases and research marketing. Two international panels of experts explained how universities and research institutions in other countries deal with special aspects of research alumni work. They described the concept of a ‘European research alumnus’ and the collaboration with ‘Researchers in Danger’ who need help and support from national and international networks.