The UK leaving the EU comes along with many questions on how cooperation in the future could look like. The European Centre for Advanced Studies (ECAS) of Leuphana University of Lüneburg and the University of Glasgow is working to promote the cooperation of not only both universities, but also between Scottish and Lower Saxonian universities. To facilitate cooperation ECAS has set up the Post-Brexit Information Hub.

[English version below]
“Hannover (dpa/lni) – Niedersachsen ringt angesichts des Brexits um eine Fortsetzung der Hochschul-Kooperationen mit Großbritannien. Insbesondere das Ende des Austauschprogramms Erasmus für Studierende bedauert die Landesregierung. «Es ist ein Anachronismus, wenn jungen Menschen in einer Zeit, in der die Welt zusammenwächst, beim internationalen Austausch Steine in den Weg gelegt werden», sagte Europaministerin Birgit Honé (SPD) am Sonntag. Wissenschaftsminister Björn Thümler (CDU) sagte, mit Großbritannien gehe ein wichtiges Partnerland mit vielen renommierten Universitäten verloren. Beide Minister wollen sich dafür einsetzen, bestehende Kooperationen zu erhalten und auszubauen.” (Quelle: dpa)

On the first day of the Joint Forum Monday, 23 November 2020, 162 participants from different institutions joined the welcoming addresses as well as panel discussions. They were joining mainly from the UK (Scotland) and Germany (Lower Saxony), but there were also participants from France, Switzerland, Austria, Belgium, Spain and even South Africa. On the second day, Tuesday, 24 November 2020, the 23 workshops from researchers in Scotland and Lower Saxony even attracted a total number of 274 participants (some of which took part in various workshop sessions).

ECAS is seeking to recruit a programme coordinator as of 15 December 2020 (a later start date is not possible) for the development of a tandem fellowship programme for post-doc researchers in Lower Saxony and Scotland. This is a part time position (50 %, 20 hours per week, fixed term appointment), which is initially limited until 15 December 2021. In your role as programme coordinator, you will administer the pilot phase of the Lower Saxony – Scotland Tandem Fellowship Programme, incl. the conception and concrete elaboration of the programme as well as initiating the respective processes. Moreover, you will support networking activities in the furtherance of the overall cooperation between Lower Saxonian and Scottish universities.

The ongoing Covid-19 pandemic requires flexibility and an appropriate response to the scale of infection. In order to ensure the safety of all participants in this uncertain time, the Joint Forum planned for the 23 and 24 November 2020 will no longer be organised in a hybrid format but will be held entirely online.
More information will follow soon!

Due to the new hybrid format of the Joint Forum, we would like to extend the deadline for handing in proposals for workshops by interested researchers, university staff and students from Lower Saxony and Scotland until the 30 September 2020.