The Scottish government has set up a programme that is promoting academic collaboration between Scotland and the EU after Brexit. The programme is designed to work on solutions for challenges that may arise in the future.

Young postdoctoral researchers often have a high mobility but are lacking a reliable network to get started with research stays and developing research projects with partners abroad. The Lower Saxony - Scotland Tandem Fellowship Programme is designed to support postdoctoral researchers (up to 10 years after finishing their PhD) in developing ties between the two regions.

Professor Lorna Hughes, member of our Academic Committee, takes up the post of Dean for Global Engagement for Europe at the University of Glasgow. Find out more about her role and plans in this interview: https://www.gla.ac.uk/myglasgow/news/headline_791032_en.html.

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).

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.